ZIMBABWE is losing US$400 million every year to medical tourism.
Over a decade, that is a US$4 billion exodus of capital.
The reason is not a lack of equipment and expertise, but a 24-year-old law that keeps local excellence a secret.
In the corridors of silence, foreign hospitals head hunt Zimbabwean patients.
Recently, the Health and Child Care ministry met with stakeholders in Harare to overhaul the rules on medical advertising.
The current regulations, frozen in a statutory instrument from the year 2000, have created a vacuum.
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Engagements had a dead end in 2017, leaving the draft hanging.
Taking over from the 2017 draft, stakeholders were walked through.
Input and further adjustments were done from the house under the guidance of the Health and Child Care ministry.
Tonderai Kadzere, the ministry’s director for policy, who led the discussions, admitted that the gap needed consensus to be amended.
“The absence of clear standards leads to regulatory gaps and potential harm,” Kadzere said, speaking on behalf of permanent secretary Aspect Maunganidze.
“The new SI must protect the public from misleading claims while allowing practitioners to be truthful.”
The price of silence was palpable in the plenary session.
The room was packed with the backbone of the healthcare system: dentists, nurses, radiologists and pharmacists.
Their grievance was unanimous: the law forbids them from telling the public what they can do.
Because local experts are silenced, patients fly to India and South Africa for procedures available in the country.
Renowned medical practitioner Vivek Solanki, exposed a “rot” in the system.
He described an uneven playing field where foreign agents operate in Zimbabwe with impunity.
“Foreign agents come to Zimbabwe unhindered,” Solanki said.
“They host conferences in five-star hotels and offer local doctors commissions—some as high as 20% — for referrals.
“They use ‘before and after’ photos and hospital lists. We are prohibited from doing the same. We are shackled.”
The digital frontier debate highlighted a sharp disconnect between policy and the year 2026.
While the draft regulations focus on “dignity” and traditional media, the world has moved to AI, telemedicine and e-commerce.
Dr Johannes Marisa, president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe, described the current framework as “punitive”.
“We need to move with the times,” he said.
“The regulatory framework should guide us, not threaten us.”
One private practitioner noted that the “digital border” has no walls.
A medical doctor outside Zimbabwe can consult, prescribe and deliver medicine via a smartphone, while local doctors remain hamstrung by archaic “gag orders”.
A milestone for reform was emphasised by Clotilda Chimbwanda, secretary-general of the Healthcare Professions Authority of Zimbabwe, who called the indaba a milestone, but warned that many sections of the draft remain vague.
The meeting ended with a sense of urgency.
The “Northern Region” stakeholders have spoken.
The Southern Region was set to hold their meeting three days later.
The consensus from the Northern Region was clear: Silence is no longer golden, it is expensive. Zimbabweans deserve to know that world-class care exists in their own backyard.
In the global village of 2026, a well-informed patient is not just a customer; they are a safer patient.
lCatherine Mwauyakufa can be contacted on cathymwauyakufa@gmail.com.