By Silence Gwande.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) -Serious drug shortages continue to hound the country making hospitals the most feared places to be in. The pricing of medication remains the cause for concern as no ordinary person can afford it.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care has recently admitted that there is poor financing of the public health despite its national vision that states; ”The Government of Zimbabwe desires to have the highest possible level of health and quality of life for all its citizens, attained through the combined efforts of individuals, communities, organizations and government. The vision will be attained through guaranteeing every Zimbabwean access to comprehensive and effective social services”.
The issue of prioritization remains a cause for concern and government has been encouraged to prioritize health to save the lives of the majority. It is a public secret that politics is getting more funding whenever there is an election with little attention given to the bed-ridden patients in drugless hospitals in the country.
Parliamentary portfolio committee on Health and Child Care has bemoaned the government’s habit of prioritizing politics over the lives of the people. ”It is an irony that there is a shortage of drugs in the hospitals and people are dying due to lack of funding in our public health sector but when there is an election like the recent by-elections we see a lot of funds being unveiled”, murmured Fani Munengami who heads the portfolio.
Nevertheless David Chapfika,a member of Parliamentary portfolio on Finance and Economic Development is of the conviction that people should engage in income generating projects which will help fund other critical sectors like public health sector and find other ways through which they can mobilize resources instead of solely banking on financially crippled government.
The Mutoko South Member of Parliament also encouraged people to be hygienic and avoid unnecessary pollution which is the major cause of diseases.
Chief Ruzane of CWGH in Wedza says the government should give more attention to health matters than any other issues and also encouraged people to be hygienic and refrain from prostitution and adultery as the sexually transmitted diseases were a result of the two. Ruzane also says people should go back to their traditional food and also urged young people to shun alcohol so as to live longer.
”People’s lives are more important than anything else and as such the government should prioritize health issues to curb mortality rates that are being recorded across the country in different hospitals due to lack of drugs and unaffordable medication”, he said.
Dr.Getrude Avortri of WHO believes the communities have a big role to play in strengthening health service delivery by engaging in income generating projects.
Dr Munatsi of ZHDA says the government should intervene and make sure everybody has access to affordable medication as the current situation makes it impossible for ordinary people to afford medication.
Blood products have been reportedly expensive and a bottleneck carried by Ministry of Health and Child Care shows that 60% of secondary facilities were found to have no blood in their stock. This has been mainly caused by lack of electricity and environmental conditions that do not allow keeping of blood.
It is on this background that the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) points out the need for the government to consider other alternatives such as solar refrigerators for storing blood products and the reduction in the price of the blood that can only happen if the government supports the National Blood Transfusion Services Zimbabwe in investing in cost effective technologies for screening blood.
Counsellor for Makoni District Mr Tim Chingwende lamented the shortage of ambulances in the district and according to him 52 wards are being serviced by a single ambulance, a treacherous situation which can cause death of many people as they fail to get to the hospital in time in the greatest hour of need.He also said people were walking too long distances 10-20km to reach to the hospitals which can make others die on their way.
The country has for so many years been grappling with economic woes which have negatively affected health sector prompting the freezing of many posts, unaffordable medication resulting in many deaths. Many patients especially in the rural areas walk strenuous distances to access primary health care facilities and it is the government’s obligation to increase funding and build new clinics where people can get healthcare without walking a long distance.
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