Rumbidzai Shumba, 82, has a badly swollen knee. This reporter finds it difficult to hold back the tears as he listens to her sad tale. For the past three years, in her village adjacent to Mnene mission Hospital in Mberengwa, she has battled constant pain.
Her problem is that she doesn't have the money to travel to Bulawayo or Gweru to have an X-ray done on her knee and, without this essential X-ray, doctors at the nearby Mnene Hospital cannot treat the ailment.
Shumba, an unemployed widow, takes care of several of her orphaned grandchildren. They survive on the small proceeds of peasant farming. She earns very little from her harvest. It pays school fees, uniforms and living costs for herself and her grandchildren. There is no money left for an X-ray.
Mnene mission hospital is the biggest referral hospital in Mberengwa, servicing 35 clinics and four rural hospitals. It hit the headlines last year when it emerged that some hospital staff had abused a $700,000 fund made available in 2011, for the specific purpose of reviving the health sector.
Equipment
The misappropriated money was supposed to purchase critical equipment like X-ray machines, ambulances, medical scanners and autoclave sterilisers so as to provide effective health care for the villagers.
In a recent survey done by The Zimbabwean in villages surrounding the hospital, it was found that the needy and the elderly are those most affected by the abuse of the funds. Many are now living with predicaments similar to that of gogo Shumba's.
Last year government suspended four staff members; hospital matron Danai Chauke, administrator Noel Moyo, finance director Comfort Shumba and accountant Yvonne Manyawo,
“The doctors at the hospital say I must go to Bulawayo for an X-ray, but I can’t afford it. I am an elderly person with limited resources. Government did well to give the hospital money for equipment, but suspending the culprits doesn't help us. They cannot just ignore us. Action is needed to make sure that the services we need are available to us,” said gogo Shumba.
Another villager, Kumbuyani Mthetwa, 56, recently broke her leg. At the same time her 72-year-old husband, Partson Munyanyi, dislocated his spine. They could not get the necessary help at Mnene hospital and were referred to Bulawayo.
Crisis situation
“I managed to get to Bulawayo where they put my leg in plaster. It was a painful journey. Our roads are dusty strips filled with potholes. I should have been treated at the local hospital. The problem we now face is finding the money for my husband to travel to Bulawayo. He just lies on the bed, the spinal problem is now affecting his legs. This is a crisis and something must to be done to help us,” she said.
Mthetwa added that she was being stigmatised by the community because people had, incorrectly, concluded that her husband’s long illness is due to HIV. Her husband is not HIV positive, but he does desperately need spinal surgery.
Hemina Pupurai, 74, former teacher, now based in the Dada village, said the hospital’s incapacity to offer meaningful health services has reached a level where the elderly feel their right to free medication is being violated.
“In terms of the law, the elderly have a right to free medication. This right is now being violated. We are referred to other hospitals and we need to fork out money for our transport, food and other expenses. Government should ensure that we get the services close to home. The matter of the hospital cannot be forgotten. Action needs to be taken,” she said.
Digging more graves
Stella Nhave, 71, said the community had seen so many deaths from diseases that could have been avoided if the institution had adequate facilities. “What happened to the government’s fund is regrettable, but you cannot leave needy and elderly people to suffer because of this. We have been waiting for appropriate interventions to be made, but all we see are people digging more graves,” she said.
Mberengwa Ward 2 village head, Leonard Ngidi, 71, who has become blind after failure to get early treatment for cataracts in both eyes, said he was a living example of how abuse of the fund had affected the community.
“I have personal experience of the negative effects of the problem because I am now blind. Besides the equipment that the hospital is short of, it does not have some drugs and even the mortuary is in a sorry state. Bereaved families are charged exorbitant costs for storage of their deceased loved ones. As a community leader I appeal to government to speed up steps to normalise things at this hospital,” he said.
Luwelin Sibanda, stand-in village head and eldest son of Ngidi, told how the elderly silently suffer and pointed out that he was overwhelmed with inquiries and requests for assistance from the community to take a stand and demand action.
Money leftover
"What pains me is that we have two very competent doctors at the hospital who are incapable of performing simple operations because they have no equipment. The community is now putting their heads together to find out what can be done to find a solution to this problem. The hospital could have been one of the most sought after in the country, had the fund been managed properly," he said.
Midlands provincial medical director, Milton Chemhuru, told The Zimbabwean that government had not made any further disbursements for the purchase of new equipment, but he has instructed the stand-in administration to see how the money they have left can help.
“About $400 000 was misappropriated. This means there is some of the original fund left over. This will be used to buy some machines. It will also be used to possibly repair malfunctioning equipment. We will try to find a lasting solution to the whole crisis,” he said.
Tafanana Zhou, the Mberengwa North MP, the original whistle-blower on the misappropriation of funds allocated to the hospital, says that the parliamentary portfolio committee on health is working flat out to resolve the crisis.
Post published in: Gender Equality