Zimbabwe will have a five star health care service, promised VP Constantino Guveya Chiwenga took over as the country’s health Minister.
”Things will never be the same again. We are restructuring and reforming our health delivery system. We want to rebuild the structures from village to referral level. Things will never be the same again," he said.
"We have already identified the problems and we do not want a repeat of what was happening before.”
He said that in August 2020, nearly a year ago now. Things have not improved. Indeed, if anything the situation is dire now than even.
Zimbabwe’s health care services have all but collapsed because of decades of being starved of funds. The country has haemorrhaged so many health care workers over the years forced to leave the country in search of a living wage and a future for themselves and their family. As we speak, many nurses are back on strike demanding better wages and working conditions. Government is still failing to provide adequate PPE for the corona virus frontline health care workers.
The feared new corona virus outbreak is upon us with reports of 1 820 new cases and 26 deaths in one day. Health care workers are amount the new cases with 25 and 3 nurses from Zvishavane Hospital and Claybank Hospital respectively on that list.
“Nurses have been on strike for the 34 days with only student nurses and those on probation reporting for work at hospitals. Other health workers, fearing to contract the deadly virus, are reportedly taking leave days, forcing some hospitals to shut down even casualty departments that had remained operational,” reported Bulawayo 24.
“To this end, all nurses including those on probation are advised not to continue to go to work and to withdraw their labour. This is no longer an issue about remuneration only but it is also about their health,” said Enoch Dongo, Zimbabwe Nurses Association president.
“People are dying at home.”
This only serves to highlight the glaring discrepancy between Zimbabwe’s official 38 682 corona virus cases and 1 586 deaths. All those people who are sick and dying at home are never tested and therefore are never included in the official figures.
It is worrying that many health care workers should be infected since they are supposed to be all vaccinated by now. But with under 600 000 or 6% of the target 10 million vaccinated, it is quite possible many of the health care workers are yet to be vaccinated.
Many nations have already vaccinated 70% plus of their people and are set to reach their target herd immunity in the next two or three months. Only VP Chiwenga can answer why Zimbabwe has taken six months since the first vaccines were approved to vaccinated a measly 6% of the target 10 million?
“While covid-19 is spreading all over, the government is not doing anything to capacitate our hospitals. We are surely bound to lose the fight against covid-19 with this sort of approach,” warned Dongo.
The truth is with the hospitals that are so poorly equipped, not even clean running water, no nurses and doctors poorly; of course with have lost the fight against even the common cold much less covid-19!
VP Chiwenga was only boasting about Zimbabwe a five star health care service. He is just a blundering buffoon whose only care is to remain in power so that he and his fellow Zanu PF cronies can continue to rob the nation blind.
A lifestyle audit of VP Chiwenga and the Zanu PF ruling elite will show they are the Godfathers of the wholesale looting that has created a filthy rich ruling elite at the expense of the millions now living in abject poverty. The ruling elite have built sprawling palatial mansions, with fleets of posh cars and live extravagant lifestyles. VP Chiwenga has indulged his love of watches; he has over 45 gold watches alone.
Zimbabwe is not a poor country, it only appears so because the country’s vast wealth is being creamed off to feed the insatiable greed of the ruling elite and their foreign masters. Andrew Flaming, renamed Parerenyatwa Hospital after independence, was a five star hospital. It has long since lost all the star rating.
What a time for the country’s health care services to collapse! Zimbabwe will pay dear dearly, in lost opportunity and cash plus heartbreaking human suffering and lost lives, for doing nothing these last 41 years whilst the country went to the dogs. And as long as the country remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs, there will be no meaningful economic recovery, no sound health care, no education, etc.
Zimbabwe will have a five star health care service! That was just the “boastful dog claiming to put out the furnace fire with its punny fart!” as the great Chinua Achebe so aptly put it.
Zanu PF has proven over and over again to be a party of corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs whose only care in this world is that they must have absolute power, influence and the wealth to feed their insatiable greed. They more they got the more the wanted.
ReplyDeleteVP Chiwenga is just a buffoon who was promoted way above his level of competence and wanted to be Minister of Health over and above his position as VP because he is desperate to prove he in competent. He wants the country's health service to be five stars but has no clue that will take hard work and corruption and mismanagement must end. Corrupt and incompetent buffoons like him must be fired wherever they are!
To have a completely collapsed health care service at the peak of corona virus outbreak is the stuff nightmares are made of. We only have ourselves to blame for this tragedy, we have seen it coming these last 41 years and have done nothing about it and now it is here.
No doubt VP Chiwenga will be off to China again should he ever have one of his whisky induced sweating bouts; off to China leaving behind his 5 star hospitals! What have ever done to deserve such a 5 star buffoon for VP and Minister of Health!
In Harare, only Wilkins Infectious Diseases Hospital was administering both the first and second doses yesterday, while centres such as Parirenyatwa and Sally Mugabe Central hospitals, as well as Mabvuku Polyclinic had recorded stock-outs.
ReplyDeleteCOVID-19 taskforce chief co-ordinator Agnes Mahomva confirmed the shortage, adding that government was in the process of redistributing vaccines from areas with an oversupply.
"We are aware of some centres that are saying they have run out of vaccines and the ministry is in the process of redistributing the vaccines from centres with an oversupply of the vaccine as we cannot have some places with vaccines expiring after we have procured more," she said.
Bulawayo City Council's health services director Edwin Sibanda confirmed the vaccine stock-outs at some centres.
Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association president Johannes Marisa said the stockouts were caused by limited stocks.
"Government in total ordered 600 000 vaccine doses: 400 000 of Sinopharm and 200 000 Sinovac, and so it was actually a limited number. A lot of people snubbed the vaccination process and it was not very important to order millions of doses when even frontliners were reluctant to get vaccinated," he said.
Senior Hospital Doctors Association president Shingai Nyaguse said: "It appears the vaccine stocks at hand are running low. It is understandable that they would reserve stock on hand for those still in need of a second dose. Most vaccines have shown that immunity becomes more clinically significant after the second dose. We would urge the government to rapidly acquire more vaccines as we are in a race against time to stave off a third COVID-19 wave.”
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, is on record saying Zimbabwe will purchase one million vaccines per month and now it appears all the nation has ever bought 600 000 doses only. All those stories of people being reluctant to be vaccinated were just hen’s teeth tales to shift the blame for the pathetic vaccination rate from the regime to the people.
We are in the middle of third corona virus wave, we have run out of vaccines after vaccinating only 600 000 or so and most of the nurses are either of strike or are down with corona virus themselves. This is the stuff of nightmares. The tragedy is we have had this coming for the last 41 years of Zanu PF corrupt and tyrannical rule and we elected to do nothing about it. Now the chickens have come home to roost!
Last year, the Health and Child Care ministry fired five chief executives at the country's major hospitals as part of a restructuring exercise to enhance operational efficiency, effectiveness and accountability.
ReplyDeleteThe axe fell on Nonhlanhla Ndlovu (United Bulawayo Hospitals), Leonard Mabandi (Ingutsheni Central), Ernest Manyawu (Parirenyatwa), Tinashe Dhobbie (Sally Mugabe) and Enock Mayida (Chitungwiza Central Hospital).
Some directors in the ministry were also sent on leave, resulting in several departments operating without substantive heads.
Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike yesterday expressed concern over the issue, saying three-quarters of directors in the Health ministry were in acting capacity.
This is laughable considering the overzealous VP Chiwenga is the one who fired these directors and CEO supposedly to create a five star health care service and now it is clear the buffoon made a bad situation worse! And this is all happening in the middle of corona virus pandemic. A blundering and incompetent regime has just turned a tragedy into a Biblical catastrophe!
Still, we only have ourselves to blame for doing nothing to ensure we had a competent and accountable government these last 41 years. Nations get the government they deserve and we in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with the entourage of corrupt and incompetent opposition parties, all 130 of them at the last count.
NEW Covid-19 cases are significantly low in largely rural communities of Zimbabwe with statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care reporting very few or no cases from five provinces in recent weeks.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the daily Covid-19 update as of Monday last week, Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Masvingo, Mashonaland West, Midlands and Masvingo had no new cases or deaths reported.
Medical experts state that the low figures in rural areas are attributed to the limited interaction that people have in those areas as compared to the urban areas. The successful implementations of national lockdowns have been also mentioned as a contributing factor to the limited numbers of Covid-19 in rural setups.
The one thing Zimbabwe has not being doing is testing and very few, if any at all, outside urban centres have ever been tested. And since the only people counted as corona virus case are those who have tested positive the virus it is not surprising therefore there are no rural cases recorded.
There is no doubt there are many corona virus cases and deaths in the rural areas. The official figure and the reality on the ground are two completely different things.
We should not forget that this Zanu PF government is more obsessed about keeping the official covid-19 cases and deaths as low as possible so it can brag about how well it has handled the pandemic even if that means the coverup will result in the virus spreading and causing even more people suffering and deaths.
"The challenges are real. The corruption and economic policies of the Robert Mugabe era caused what I can only call economic devastation. The damage done then has left scars that have distorted the economy and still impact day-to-day business," Nichols said.
ReplyDelete"While I am confident the economy is set to grow in the coming years, the key opportunity and risk for companies in Zimbabwe is tied up with one question: When will the government follow through with the bold reforms it has promised?"
"That question lies at the heart of Zimbabwe's economic future. That question also shapes the relationship between the US and the government of Zimbabwe.
Zanu PF will never implement even one token reform and risk losing power as long as the party knows it will get legitimacy by virtue of Zimbabwe’s corrupt and incompetent opposition participate in elections no matter how flawed and illegal the process happens to be. Zanu PF is dangling a bribe the opposition have found totally irresistible - a few gravy train seats plus a corresponding share of the annual Political Party Finance Act pay-out and, for the losing presidential candidates, a seat on President Mnangagwa’s very own POLAD.
If we are serious about getting the democratic reforms implemented, we really must start telling the corrupt, incompetent and sell-out opposition opportunists that we know what they are doing, it is wrong and we are sick and tired of their selling out!
The Americans and the West must stop treating these opportunists who continue to give legitimacy to the vote rigging Zanu PF whilst paying lip service to reforms like credible opposition. The opposition has been running with the hare and hunting with the hounds at the expense of the long suffering ordinary people. This cannot be allowed to continue unchecked!
Bondolfi Teachers’ College has been placed under tight lockdown with lectures suspended and movement in and out of the institution proscribed as the fight intensifies to contain an outbreak of Covid-19 there.
ReplyDeleteThe development comes as 94 students and six members of the teaching staff at the institution are self-isolating after testing positive for the novel virus.
This has been a disaster waiting to happen. As of last week, Zimbabwe had vaccinated just over 500 000 or 5% of the 10 million herd immunity target. There are reports the country is running out of vaccines. The country has so far bought 600 000 doses and has received 500 000 doses as free donation.
Meanwhile Mnangagwa has just taken delivery of a US$ 18 million helicopter. The country continues to haemorrhage money through corruption, US$1.2 billion is lost every year to gold smugglers alone. Zimbabwe is a very rich country and can certainly afford to buy the vaccines and not have to wait for donated vaccines.
To all those who will have the misfortune to have the corona virus and many will die of the virus we must never forget that this could and should have been avoided if only this Zanu PF regime would got its priorities right! What is more, as long as this blundering Zanu PF regime remains in power we will remain a sitting duck to corona virus and all the economic disruption it brings; we are not out of the woods, not yet!
There is evidence to show that Zimbabwe is in the middle of a third corona virus outbreak and that the dreaded Indian variant is in the country. It is therefore shocking that Zimbabwe continues to carry out only 2 159 test per day. We are not carrying out the test, trace, track and isolate as vigorously as common sense demand.
ReplyDeleteAt the peak of the last covid-19 wave, in December 2020, SA was carrying out over 44 000 tests per day. Zimbabwe with 1/4 the population of SA should have been doing over 11 000 test per day but was doing only 1 500 tests per day! Zimbabwe's official covid-19 cases and deaths have remained very low but only because we have not been testing. The real covid-19 cases and deaths are much, much higher and, by failing to test and isolate, are even worse than they would be otherwise!
THE number of Covid-19 positive cases at Bondolfi Teachers College in Masvingo have risen to 116, while official results to determine the variant of the cases are expected from today.
ReplyDelete"The situation, however, has already been contained, students have been separated. We now have others in quarantine and others in isolation.
In the past, the quarantine and isolation facilities in Zimbabwe have been wilfully inadequate. It will come as a great surprise is they have improved!
As for the test, trace, track and isolate regime; we know that has remained wilfully inadequate. With the country doing 2 500 tests or so per day there is no doubt many of the contact of those who have tested positive at Bondolfi have never been followed up and tested!
Itai Rusike, Community Working Group on Health executive director, said the country's Covid-19 response must be based on reliable epidemiological data so that the government, businesses, and the public can better manage the pandemic, save lives, and keep the economy open.
ReplyDelete"Testing is one of the critical tools to fight this pandemic because it saves lives, allows the economy to re-open and stay open and it is vital for the introduction of vaccines and therapeutics," Rusike said.
"Inadequate testing inhibits proper understanding of the prevalence and incidence of Covid-19, thus enhancing the risk of undetected community spread.
Zimbabwe’s covid-19 testing regime has remained wilfully inadequate. At the peak of the December 2020 covid-19 wave SA was doing over 44 000 tests per day. Zimbabwe faced a similar wave and should have been doing over 11 000 tests per day given our population is ¼ that of SA but was doing 1 500 tests per day. We are facing a third wave and yet we are still on 2 500 tests per day!
SOME private medical doctors are reportedly charging fees for citizens to get the COVID19 jab, a development which health experts yesterday said was likely to trigger profiteering in the country's vaccination programme.
ReplyDeleteGovernment declared that COVID-19 vaccination would be administered for free to local citizens while foreigners would pay.
However, information gathered by the NewsDay showed that some private health institutions were charging between US$40 and US$60 for locals to get their two jabs, and at least US$100 for foreigners to be inoculated.
Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association president Johannes Marisa confirmed that there were some private institutions that were offering the jab outside the government-run vaccination programme, but he professed ignorance on the criteria used in arriving at the charge.
Here we go again! There is no doubt that most of these private doctors will get the vaccines from their government connection – vaccines donated or bought using taxpayer’s money. It was near impossible to stop the cartel moving in and now that they have it is impossible to uproot them. Vaccines meant for the poor will now be rerouted to these private medical institutions!
Hundreds of people are being turned away from vaccination centres in Zimbabwe as the country’s supplies of China’s Sinovac vaccine appear to have run out, triggering panic that the government is failing to acquire new stocks.
ReplyDeleteWhile the government said that it had taken delivery of more medicines in recent weeks, centres in Harare have not had any stocks for nearly a week and there is growing anger at the failure to communicate acute vaccine shortages, which are being reported around the country.
Minister of Finance, Professor Mthuli Ncube, said the country was going to procure 1 million vaccines a month. So far it has only bought 600 000. On 25 May, Africa Day, Mnangagwa gave away 18 twin-cab Isuzu trucks to chiefs, the first batch. The country has 270 chiefs and before the 2018 elections Mnangagwa gave each and everyone of them a new Isuzu truck – a down payment for the chief to campaign for the party in the coming 2023 elections.
So 270 chiefs will each get a new twin-cab Isuzu truck @ US$30 000 will cost a total US$ 8.1 million. This is happening with headman, judiciary, Police and Army and all the other key players who help to run the Zanu PF vote rigging juggernaut costing the nation millions of dollars in foreign currency every month.
Zimbabwe does not have to rely on donated covid-19 vaccines, the country has the money to buy the vaccines if only it had its priorities right. If only the country had competent leaders whose head are full of brain and not ossified fat tissue.
A total of 27 people including children and members of staff at Mary Ward Children's home in Kwekwe have tested positive for Covid-19.
ReplyDeleteThe development comes in the wake of a surge in positive cases in the mining town with more cases recorded within schools.
Mary Ward, Ruvimbo and Chiedza primary schools are some of the schools that have recorded positive cases among pupils.
We have seen this coming and those in the positions of power and authority chose to do nothing about it and now the third corona virus outbreak in upon us!
Zimbabwe’s contact tracing and testing has remained wilfully inadequate. At the peak of the second wave in December last year SA was testing over 44 000 per day and Zimbabwe with ¼ SA’s population should have been testing over 11 000 per day; we were doing 1 500. With this latest outbreak the testing has gone up to 2 500 per day, still far below what is required to get on top of the situation.
Zimbabwe has vaccinated less than 700 000 (one jab) and 400 000 (two jabs), or 7% and 4% respectively, out of the 10 million herd immunity target. Other nations have reached 70% plus of their target herd immunity. Zimbabwe is losing a staggering US$1.2 billion per year in smuggled gold alone; just 10% of that, US$ 120 million, will buy all the vaccines we want.
As long as Zimbabwe continue to lag behind in vaccinating its people we will remain a sitting duck to new corona virus outbreaks.
ZIMBABWE has turned down its allocation of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine, citing storage constraints and scepticism over possible side effects despite being under the threat of a third wave and facing a harsh winter.
ReplyDeleteThe southern African nation has set a long-shot target of vaccinating 10 million people by the end of the year to achieve 60% herd immunity, but has run out of vaccines.
Many countries in the West stopped the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in April to investigate links to cases of a very rare, potentially life-threatening condition involving blood clots and low platelet counts.
A similar condition has also been linked to the AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is seen as ideal for Zimbabwe's ambitious rollout programme in that it only requires one shot while unpunctured vials may be stored between nine degrees and 25 degrees Celsius for up to 12 hours.
African countries have a deal to access 220 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine under a US$2 billion procurement deal announced at the end of March.
Guvamatanga said government hoped to have its "internal processes ready in time for the next allocation".
Zimbabwe has to date received just over 1,735 million doses of Sinopharm, Sinovac and Covaxin.
Despite shortages, government last Friday said it had enough COVID-19 vaccines for those needing a second shot after some centres ran out of doses since last week and thousands of people were turned away.
So far, 687 321 people have received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while another 380 786 have received their second jab.
Of all the foolish decisions this Zanu PF regime has made this is just another one and like all the other foolish decision this one is going to cost the nation human lives!
THE country has reported five more Covid-19 related deaths and 49 new cases in the last 24-hours bringing the total number of cases to 39 238.
ReplyDeleteSo far, the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in Zimbabwe now stands at 1 611 while the national recovery rate stands at 94 percent.
The vaccination programme is continuing countrywide with 1 073 971 people having been vaccinated against Covid-19 as of yesterday. A total of 1 375 people received the first dose yesterday while 4 489 people got the second jab
The true number of corona virus cases and deaths in Zimbabwe will never be known for the simple reason the country has not been testing as diligently as it should. During the last wave in December last year, SA has doing over 44 000 test per day and Zimbabwe with ¼ the population should have been doing over 11 000 was doing only 1 500 tests!
Zimbabwe’s vaccination roll out has been slow. The country has refused to take the Johnson and Johnson vaccine for the most trivial of reasons which will only mean the country will be very lucky to reach its 10 million herd immunity target this time next year!
Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said: "The mounting deaths from COVID-19 and a rise in new cases show us that the third wave is already upon us. It seems that there has not been enough attention on the procurement and equitable distribution of vaccines, especially now that we are in the winter season with a high risk of exacerbating the COVID-19 infections."
ReplyDeleteHe said communities were questioning why the vaccines had not been delivered to vaccination centres experiencing stock-outs.
"The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is generally safe as it is being used in many countries and a person is far more likely to be harmed by COVID-19 than by the vaccine. It's important to note that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires a cold chain of between nine degrees and 25 degrees, something that our existing cold chain is able to maintain."
Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association president Johannes Marisa said: "It's unfortunate that we only vaccinated around 600 000 people and we ran short of the vaccines. Considering that five people have already been reported dead, the gravity of the matter can even be worse considering that we are not doing much testing."
As far as I know, this is the first time since the corona virus outbreak a year ago that someone in the medical field has acknowledged that Zimbabwe has not been carrying out anywhere near enough virus tests for the country’s official cases and deaths figures to anywhere near the true figures. Well done DR Johannes Marisa! (It should be his job but in Africa, how many ever do their job especially if that entails speaking the truth to power!)
Zanu PF’s blundering incompetency in the handling of the corona virus pandemic is going to cost hundreds of thousands of human lives and Zimbabwe’s health care professionals know many of the lost lives would have been saved if only they had dared to speak the truth to power!
Zimbabwe has recorded 20 coronavirus deaths in the past 96 hours ushering some citizens into panic mode although the rate is still lower than of other states.
ReplyDeleteThe deaths were recorded as follows:
7 June – 5 deaths;
8 June – 6 deaths
9 June – 5 deaths;
10 June – 4 deaths;
Zimbabwe has not been testing, tracking and isolating as religiously as it is supposed to and therefore the country’s official corona virus cases and deaths are a far cry from the real figures on the ground.
The country has only vaccinated 700k first dose and 400k with both first and second jab or 7% and 4% out of the target 10 million herd immunity. The country is reportedly running out of vaccines in some areas. How ironic the regime is splashing US$8.1 million buying twin-cab Isuzu trucks for the Chiefs; a down payment to bribe them to campaign for Zanu PF it is now the norm; and yet the country is failing to buy the corona virus vaccines.
Fifteen (15) lecturers marking Higher Education Examinations Council (HEXCO) papers at Masvingo Polytechnic College have tested positive for coronavirus.
ReplyDeleteThe lecturers were found to have contracted the virus after tests were carried out at Mazoredze Clinic.
This comes as the ruling ZANU PF party has continued to defy lockdown regulations by holding rallies throughout the country, reported Masvingo Mirror.
In Gutu North alone more than 10 rallies were held in the last week even though churches, restaurants, weddings, funerals and other gatherings are all banned.
The blundering incompetence with which Zanu PF has handled the corona virus pandemic in going to cost many, many lives.
Zimbabwe is losing a staggering US$1.2 billion per year to gold smuggler alone. Just 10% of the loot, US$ 120 million will be enough to buy all the vaccines the nation needs!
Why did we allow the India corona virus variant to spread in the country?
Chiwenga has bought 2.5 million Chinese vaccines and country like Chile have found out that the Chinese vaccines are not as effective against the India variant!
"We have about $70 million that is still available in our coffers so we are still in that situation where we are able to procure more vaccines going forward," said Prof Ncube in an interview with The Herald.
ReplyDelete"The $100 million we set aside will go a long way in meeting the demand for vaccinating our population."
Zimbabwe will take delivery of 500 000 doses from Sinopharm today and another two million from Sinovac next week.
The two vaccines were given emergency use authorisation by WHO.
"We had set a target of procuring a million vaccines a month, in April, May and June, we are on that target.
"By midday tomorrow (today), we should have received half a million doses from Sinopharm. By the middle of next week, we will receive another two million doses from Sinovac.
Prof Ncube said Government had also bought about a million syringes that would be used in the vaccination process adding that beyond the targets for April, May and June, additional vaccines would be procured.
Zimbabwe has so far procured 1,2 million Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines from China.
It has taken nearly five months, from early February when the country got its first vaccine butch today end of June to use up the 1.2 million vaccines. It would be a great achievement if we get the 2.5 million in people’s arms by the end of the year! The country would have 1.85 million out of the target 10 million vaccinated and, at this rate, we would be very lucky to achieve the target in another two years, end of 2023!
The trouble with dragging our feet over the vaccination roll out is that we risk being caught, as is now the case, in each new wave of the corona virus out break. And, when that happens, discover the vaccine is not as effective as Chile has just found out; the Chinese vaccines are reportedly not as effective against the India variant! We have the India variant in Zimbabwe and the 2.5 million vaccines are Chinese!