Zimbabwe seems to be sleepwalking into a health crisis, as politicians bicker senselessly about power and positions and are seemingly oblivious to the dire situation in public health institutions.
Comment: NewsDay Editor
Binga District Hospital is the latest institution to suspend services, joining a growing queue of hospitals that have had to do that in the past few weeks.
While Binga’s case is slightly different to that of Harare Central Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), who suspended surgery due to the drug shortages, the Matabeleland North institution did so because of shortages of water and electricity. All this points to a looming health crisis.
There are also hair-raising reports about the situation at Ingutsheni Hospital among other stories of poor infrastructure at public hospitals.
Add to that reports of a typhoid outbreak and fears of waterborne diseases in Chitungwiza due to water shortages, then you will appreciate the scale of the health storm that is headed towards the country.
The officials, in the meantime, seem oblivious to this situation or are not doing nearly enough to avert this obvious problem.
We thought such ineptitude had remained in the dark days of 2008, but it seems worse is headed our way, while authorities continue to bicker about positions and power in the unending Zanu PF succession wars.
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The government has to prioritise health provision, otherwise the country is doomed.
It just does not make sense that two of the country’s biggest referral hospitals have had to suspend elective surgeries and this points to lack of seriousness and planning.
If UBH and Harare Central Hospital can run out of drugs, then what about rural health facilities that serve the majority of the people?
As a country, we have got so many things wrong, but at least there is need to prioritise health and education, without which we are doomed.
The Health ministry should be working overtime to ensure that health services are not disrupted, whatever the cost. This comes as a timely reminder to Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa to provide as much funding to the Health ministry as possible to avoid such man-made disasters.
The country is a signatory to the Abuja Declaration, where African countries committed to allocate 15% of their budgets to health.
If Zimbabwe had been honest to the principles of the Abuja Declaration, then the health sector would be in good hands, but instead, as usual, the country is paying lip service to international agreements it voluntarily entered into.
We cannot afford to let our health sector go to the dogs and there is need to do something urgently before public hospitals are turned into white elephants or museums.
