IN 1980, Zimbabwe’s health delivery service was chiefly public, with government being responsible for the health of the entire country.
It was taboo for one to be found operating as a private practitioner.
The culture spread quietly until around 1992 when private medical practitioners gradually increased, contributing to about 7% of the national health delivery system, with the public sector contributing a magnificent 93%.
These were the days of the notorious and unpopular national policy, the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, which recommended the introduction of user fees in healthcare facilities and the removal of government subsidies.
It was a huge turning point for the country, coupled with a devastating drought that brought the country to its knees.
Today, the population has gone past 16,3 million, a sharp rise from about eight million people at independence.
Public health service delivery is struggling with poor infrastructure, obsolete equipment, brain drain, high disease burden.
The private sector has stood firm, complementing government in all aspects of health and today, between 30% and 40% of health service delivery is provided by the private sector in the country.
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This shows how important the private sector is and this automatically calls for recognition.
It is no doubt that the private sector stood tall during the COVID-19 pandemic in curbing both morbidity and mortality.
The country managed to keep the deadly virus under control, thus shielding the entire populace from the effects of the fast-spreading pandemic.
Just a few days ago, Borrowdale Trauma Centre had a game-changing heart surgery where our local surgeons, led by Wilfred Muteweye, did their first mitral valve repair in private.
The operation was a huge success at Vivek Solanki’s institution in the leafy suburb of Borrowdale.
It is not a secret that Zimbabwe has a lot of talented, trained, skilled and experienced doctors who can compete on the world stage, but are limited by lack of resources and equipment, particularly in the public sector.
Many countries have poached our experienced health workers by offering lucrative working conditions, leaving the country with a depleted workforce.
A strong health workforce is one of the prescribed six pillars of a strong health delivery system globally.
Our government has a huge task if our health delivery system is to be competitive even in the region.
More quaternary healthcare facilities should be constructed if the ballooning population is to be accommodated.
Drug supplies should improve, while our health information systems should be upgraded.
Our health financing should be robust and gaps should be closed so that critical areas of health service are not left out.
The private medical sector has lacked government support for a long time.
There is basically very little that government has done to develop the private sector, leaving the latter with no option but to look for capital on its own.
There are no smiles when one wants to borrow from financial institutions, interest rates are extortionate and many private practitioners have no collateral to use when borrowing.
This is tragic for a country that aims to have the best medical care in few years to come.
The government has even failed to offer private practitioners simple incentives like vehicle rebate, stands or any type of land that can motivate them to continue working for the country.
Gross domestic product does not segregate goods and services from the private
sector.
At one time, I got surprised to see that private practitioners were not invited to important national health forums, yet they contribute close to 40% of medical practice.
When the country is in need of vital statistics, it is unfortunate if contributions from the private sector are not considered because many patients are attended to there.
Policymakers should appreciate the significance of private medical practitioners.
It is time many unnecessary tariffs are removed from private medical practice.
I feel private medical practitioners should be financially capacitated.
Innovation comes with financial capacitation.
All the surgical operations that Solanki is doing at Borrowdale Trauma Centre show that he invested intensively in medicine.
He acquired state-of-the-art equipment that can be used for any type of procedure.
I salute Solanki for his contribution to the country's medical tourism.
He deserves a crown in the medical tourism portfolio.
It requires huge amounts of money and energy to have a modern theatre that can operate on heart patients.
Government must not leave the private sector behind if our country is to archive its health goals.
