BIKITA West MP Munyaradzi Kereke yesterday accused government of condemning millions of poor people to death by prioritising communicable diseases such as HIV, while turning a blind eye to deadly non-communicable diseases like cancer.
BY CHIEF REPORTER
Kereke, who won the seat as a Zanu PF candidate after he was expelled for disobeying a party directive to step down to give way to the preferred candidate Elias Musakwa, said the government lacked a clear response mechanism to non-communicable diseases.
“Government is giving a blind eye to non-communicable diseases such as cancer, kidney problems and heart problems, yet they are the most deadly,” Kereke said. “There is no institutional framework in government to respond to cases such as cancer. For diseases such as kidney problems, it’s either you are rich or you are condemned to death.”
Kereke made the remarks in Parliament while supporting a motion by MDC-T non-constituency MP Ruth Labode on the need for Parliament to probe the State of the country’s health sector. He said it was feasible for government to revamp and establish 1 000 new health centres throughout the country if the money raised by the National Social Security Authority was channelled towards provision of social services.
Southerton MP Gift Chimanikire (MDC-T) said the state of the country’s health system was deplorable and needed urgent attention. He said that was why President Robert Mugabe and some top officials in government were flying out to get medical treatment.
Zanu PF MPs, however, blamed sanctions for contributing to the decay in the health sector.
Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba (Zanu PF) urged parliamentarians to be mature and avoid being partisan while debating issues.
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“We should be united and articulate issues that affect our people as parliamentarians. We should all unite and call for the removal of sanctions for the good of the people,” Chinotimba said.
