HARARE - For the fourth time in about 15 years I had to be admitted to hospital in Harare. The first two occasions were at private institutions while the other two were at government institutions. How different the two types of medical facilities are! (Pictur
The latest confinement was at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals or Pari, while the previous one was at Harare Central Hospital, or pa Gomo. In fact the latest hospitalisation should have been at pa Gomo last year but there were no facilities for the type of operation I needed.
I kept asking until late April this year when I was given a date–for February 2011. Because of the appalling state of the economy and the breakdown in social services, there was obviously a huge backlog of cases. After waiting for 10 months, I could not comfortably wait another nine months, lest the condition deteriorated. The operation was performed by a private surgeon at a private ward at Pari. Even with medical aid assistance, the cost was a mini-fortune by any standards, particularly for a government pensioner like me. The Harare op would have been free as I am a senior citizen, but the anxious waiting was worrying.
In addition, many of the services are not covered or available and the poor patient has to pay up. These include X-rays, scans, blood tests and a lot more. They can be costly, more so for a government pensioner. As they say, instead of enjoying comfortably in retirementMudya ndigerewe are dying/suffering in retirementtirikufa tigere.
Anyway, frankly I was very relieved I didnt have to be admitted at pa Gomo again, at least not in that ward. I had a horrifying time there for almost a week that I really dreaded the thought of another experience. Unfortunately, my confinement was during the climax of Zimbabwes economic and social meltdown. The health services, like all other social services, were really in a pathetic state.
The whole hospital showed signs of severe neglect. Very often there was no water, limited electricity, paint peeling off dirty walls and crumbling rotten ceilings, doors without handles (I was locked in toilet for 15 minutes and had to remove the screws to release myself!) , broken panesand lots more. Put another way, the whole place looked like an abandoned inner city complex where the homeless have taken over.
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