Doctors give government 2-week ultimatum on medical supplies - decisive action at last P Guramatunhu

“DOCTORS at government hospitals have denied claims by the Health ministry that they had received supplies of medicines, bandages and critical accessories to alleviate their plight, following last week's protests,” reported Newsday.

"The minister (Obadiah Moyo) told us that there were stocks at NatPharm. He told us to send representatives to go and see on our behalf and when they went there, all they found were a few samples," a doctor, who refused to be named, said.

"People were discussing on whether to hold a Press conference or to wait for two weeks and give the government a chance to act. Eventually we agreed to wait and see if concrete action will be taken.” 

The first question one would ask is do these doctors really believe that government will source and deliver to drugs, accessories and repair/ replace all the equipment in two weeks? If government could do that then why it done nothing until now! 

The doctors are giving government two weeks not because they expect government to perform miracles but this is part and parcel of their modus operandi, kicking the can down the road. The situation at the hospitals have reached this sorry state of affairs where a referral hospital like Parirenyatwa has no painkiller, no bandages, etc. The situation is infinitely worse at provincial and district hospitals; they should have just shut their doors years ago. Of course, the doctors have been aware of the rot and decay in the health service but have done nothing about it all these years. Nothing!

The rot and decay is everywhere, in education, NRZ, ZESA, transport, judiciary, everywhere. So it is not just the doctors and nurses who love kicking the can down the road, everyone else does. Doing nothing to stop the rot in the country is a favourite obsession of Zimbabwean right across the board.

The doctors have finally been forced to act and demand that the governments buys the supplies because there was nothing left at the hospitals. The doctors acted because they had kicked the can down the road and had finally ran out of road!

It is a great tragedy that Zimbabweans have allowed Zanu PF to destroy the country’s economy, health and education services, to corrupt the country Police, ZEC and other state institutions, etc. Even now, with the millions of people living in abject poverty and hundreds if not thousands dying every month of hunger and easily preventable diseases there are  Zimbabweans bending over backwards to let Mnangagwa and his junta regime do as they please rather than hold the regime to democratic account. 

Zimbabwe’s health services has all but completely collapsed because of 38 years of bad governance. For 38 years we have pretended not to notice that Zanu PF leaders were incompetent and corrupt and only remained in power because they rigged the elections and brute force to impose themselves on the nation. 

For the last 38 years we have done nothing to stop the vote rigging and thus end Zanu PF’s corrupt and tyrannical rule. For 38 years we have kicked the can down the road and now we are being forced to act because the economic, social and political situation is now so bad it is and unsustainable and unbearable! 

Now that we have worked ourselves into a tight corner, after 38 years of dithering and kicking the can down the road, we must now act, do or die. Here is what doctors, nurses, teachers, engineer, rural peasant, every Zimbabwean out there must do: demand that Mnangagwa and his junta step down.

Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF junta rigged last year’s elections just as the regime has done in the past. How can the elections be judge free, fair and credible when 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora were denied the vote, there was no verified voters’ roll, vote count from many polling stations were never released, etc. 

Zanu PF has rigged elections in the past and was allowed to stay in power only for the party to rig the next elections. The only sure way to break this vicious cycle is to force Zanu PF to step down. If Zanu PF is still in power in 2023 then we can be 100% certain the party will rig that year’s elections too!

Besides, we need Zanu PF to step down now to allow the appointment of an interim administration that will be tasked to implement the democratic reforms necessary to end the curse of rigged elections and bad governance. 

If we are serious about reviving our collapse health and education service, bringing back to life the country’s commerce and industry and productive farms and to restore the individual freedoms and rights of all our people then we must first restore good governance. We must restore the democratic values necessary for free, fair and credible elections. 

“Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you,” said Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana. He was right. 

For the last 38 years Zimbabweans have buried our heads in the sands and have done nothing to end the criminal waste of the nation’s human and material resources by a corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF regime. Now with the country is a serious mess, one only hopes that we have finally learned the lesson that good governance is important and it is our duty as citizens to secure such a government!