Cholera claims over 36 lives in Beitbridge


A woman prepares super for the family in Epworth. Enfeebled by hunger, cholera is finding it easier to kill Zimbabweans across the country.


 


As reports from across the contry continue to trickle in showcasing the
extent of the cholera outbreak, the ZANU-PF government revealed Monday
evening that 36 people, including children, had died from the disease
in the border town of Beitbridge.

In Harare alone, the cholera outbreak, which the ZANU-PF government
officials have privately admited they have failed to rein in, has
claimed another 37 lives over the past two months.

Already, this year’s cholera outbreak, sparred on by the incompetence
of ZINWA, is on course to being worst of its kind in the history of the
country.

The ZANU-Pf government has been accused of trying to hid the true
statistics showing the extent of the cholera outbreak. The government
also admitted Monday that it had fialed to curb the spread of cholera
across the city of Harare.

Harare City health director Stanley Mungofa admitted Monday the cholera
outbreak in the city was getting worse and claiming more lives. He said
at least 37 people had died of the disease, but "there could have been
(more) communal deaths.

"We have recorded 25 deaths at Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases
Hospital. All the deaths have been in the first 24 hours of admission
of which 70 per cent were in the first four hours of being brought to
the hospital.

"A further 12 people have died at Budiriro Polyclinic since the
outbreak of the disease on 25 October. There could have been communal
deaths and the (Harare City) Council is still compiling figures."

Beitbridge medical officer Dr Taikaitei Kanongara confirmed 36 deaths
between Friday and Monday. Beitbridge General Hospital has been
designated as a cholera treatment centre. Four hundred and thirty-one
people have already been admitted at the hospital.

"Most of the admissions were on Sunday afternoon after people had
learnt of the outbreak. We expect that number to increase," Dr
Kanongara said.

Health officials in the town have blamed the outbreak of the malady the
non-provision of clean water by ZINWA, the government body in charge of
water distribution across the country.

The Combined Harare Residents Association has said ZINWA, together with
the ZANU-PF government, should take responsibility for the cholera
outbreak.

Dr Kanongara said schools in the Beitbridge have been closed
temporarily while sale of fruit and vegetables in the open has been
banned.

Zimbabwe has been battling with the cholera outbreak for the last three months.

Efforts to curb the malady have been hampered by the collapsed heath
care system in the country. Once the best in the world, Zimbabwe’s
health care system is now virtually non-existent.

ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe’s polices over the last ten years are blamed on the collapse of the health care system.

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