Special treatment - thanks to govt fundsI have been waiting here for two days now but have not seen any doctor,” says an elderly patient, looking frail and hungry.
The old woman must be in her 70s and has been sleeping on the floor of one of Zimbabwe’s most prestigious hospitals Parirenyatwa.
“No one tells me the truth. The only thing that they have told me is that the doctors are busy and will only come when they have been paid by the government of President Robert Mugabe, who must now go,” the sick old lady continues.
This is the story of 75-year-old Mary Shungu (Not her real name).
Besides old age and the problems that accompany it, Shungu is also HIV positive.
Medical practitioners believe treating those suffering from the killer AIDS disease, especially the old, “is a waste of state funds” – despite the fact that there is much international funding available for HIV/AIDS sufferers.
The practitioners say treating young children is much better for the nation because they can serve in future, while the old are simply “gobbling funds, but dying”.
Insiders say more than $7 million is being spent on Parirenyatwa Hospital, with money coming mainly from the wealthy World Health Organisation.
The hospital was once numbered among the region’s most advanced and respected health facilities, but Zimbabwe’s health institutions are crumbling and need more than $420 million for their upgrade before the nation can think about meeting its Millennium Development health goals.
Even President Robert Mugabe, accused of blowing an average of $3 million each time he seeks medical attention overseas, and his now “ailing wife, Grace, do not use local hospitals.
Sleeping on floor
During the past month, this reporter made several undercover visits to the hospital.
At night, patients were seen lying on the floor of the Outpatients Department. Some slept on chairs waiting for their relatives to be treated, only to be told that the doctors were on strike and would not return for a week.
So some of them who had travelled long distances were forced to stay in the hospital, much to the chagrin of staff and the security officials.
“You must go home today and return when the doctors are back at work,” an overzealous security man told one woman who had stayed in the Outpatients Department for three days, sleeping on the benches.
She was waiting for her daughter, who had measles, to be treated.
“I have not had anything to eat for two days now,” the woman said in an interview.
“They do not give food to people who are not sick. Only those with beds are given food. We have come from Mutare only to be treated like this. Why were we told to come to Harare if they knew this is the treatment they would give us?”
On another visit, new tables and chairs were being brought into the hospital. Broken chairs, beds, wheel chairs, trolleys and sinks could be seen outside the back of the hospital.
New paint
Workers could be seen replacing the old, dirty paint in the dark hallways with cream paint.
Ward D on the Fourth Floor, reserved for wealthy citizens, was closed to the general public because it is currently being re-painted, according to a worker.
“We were given instructions to paint the Ward D first and the hallways,” said a painter. “I think government must be very embarrassed about its hospital system and dilapidated buildings.”
The broke government needs $18 190 000 to repair or purchase ambulances and service vehicles.
Known as “Infrastructure Investment Priorities for Zimbabwe”, a Ministry of Finance document submitted to Cabinet recently, points out that Chitungwiza Central Hospital tops the list with a staggering need for $56 717 000 from “empty” government coffers.
Parirenyatwa Hospital needs $10 335 000 for infrastructure rehabilitation and development, but it needs a total of $40 334 000 for upgrading everything.
As with most sectors in Zimbabwe today, corruption is rife. “Nurses are also stealing drugs and selling them outside the hospital to their clients,” said a senior official who cannot be identified for professional reasons.
“We have employed a security firm and everyone, including doctors and nurses, is searched when they leave. This has resulted in less cases of ‘missing drugs’. It was very serious during the days of hyperinflation, when medicines were very expensive and only those with foreign currency or relatives in the Diaspora could afford them.”
Since dollarisation in 2009, the economy has been resuscitated and the new lease of life has seen a glimmer of hope that Zimbabwe will return to its glory days – even at Parirenyatwa.
The underlying strength of the country’s infrastructure has shown through in that even after a decade of disinvestment, deterioration and decay, within a relatively short time there has been a dramatic revival of economic activity.
“The nurses are still very rude and need better training here,” the old lady tells me after I refreshed her with a loaf of bread and a soft drink.
Maybe she is right, because the nurses walk proudly in their starched white uniforms.
“Things can only get better here,” the senior hospital administrator said. “They can only get better my son.”