However, since the widowed mother of four relocated to Gweru’s populous high density suburb of Mkoba, a dark cloud of pessimism overshadows her. For close on three years now, this home to 150 000 residents, has been hard hit by a critical shortage of HIV related resources like CD4 count machines and Viral load testing equipment.
A CD4 count machine is a test device that measures the number of CD4 T lymphocytes (CD4 cells). In people with HIV, it is essential in indicating how well the immune system is working.
Regular check ups help keep track of patient health and determine whether the virus has progressed or diminished. The viral load machine measures the number of HIV virus particles in a millilitre of blood. These particles are called ‘copies.’ A viral load test, particularly for HIV patients, helps provide information on health status and how well antiretroviral therapy is controlling the virus.
These services used to be accessible at the Mkoba clinic and Polyclinic, but the local authority reportedly failed to service and maintain equipment resulting in a break down. Since independence in 1980, the government has also failed to set up a single health facility in the area.
In separate interviews, affected HIV patients in Mkoba expressed concern over their situation saying they are being referred to expensive private institutions or to Gweru General Hospital, outside the city centre on Shurugwi road.
“The problem is that we are poor people who cannot afford the services of private institutions. The council should provide equipment and facilities if they are serious about our plight. I now rue the day I relocated from Mazoe,†said Mataruse.
“On several occasions we have complained that we cannot even afford the cheapest fees charged by surgeries in town. We are told by local health practitioners to go to Gweru Hospital instead. However when we do, they refer us back to the community clinics because the hospital is a provincial referral centre. For too long now we have suffered because of the unavailability of services at local clinics,†said Tarisai Muvhundisi (41), a person living with HIV since 2011.
Hardlife Matarirano (31), another Mkoba resident living with HIV since 2008, said the absence of critical equipment in the suburb flies in the face of government’s insistence on improving health services.
His colleague who works at a grocery shop at Mkoba Six shopping centre, Godknows Mthombeni, (33) castigated the government for poor use of the Aids Levy fees collected from civil servants, saying the funds ought to be used to purchase equipment.
Post published in: Lifestyle