Mnene Mission Hospital, the only referral Hospital in Mberengwa, Midlands Province, is one of the mission hospitals in the country that are now overwhelmed by patients as public health institutions are not operational due to a number of issues including doctors’ industrial action.
This was revealed by Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe (ELCZ) Hospitals advocate, Pastor Patricia Shirichena who told the Herald that Mnene was now overstretched. She said:
We only have one doctor here, Dr Nyasha Makura, and he is being overwhelmed by patients some of whom are coming from as far as Gokwe and Gwanda in Matabeleland South.
Inadequacy of medicines, equipment and health caregivers, as well as high charges for services by private medical institutions, has compelled patients to seek medical attention at mission hospitals whose charges are modest because they are non-profit organisations.
The Herald reports that Karanda Hospital in Mt Darwin is now attending to about 500 patients daily over the past three months, up from between 150 and 200 patients per day since August.
Howard in Chiweshe, All Souls Mission in Mutoko and St Alberts Mission in Centenary have also recorded a significant rise in the number of patients since September.
More: The Herald