Health workers at some of Zimbabwe’s public hospitals are turning away patients for fear of contracting the dreaded novel coronavirus disease due to ignorance and a lack of Protective Personal Equipment (PPE).
This was revealed by Mpilo Central Hospital Clinical Director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya during an interview with Sunday News. He said:
We have a worry about health workers turning away people from hospitals. I have been saying that there will be ignorance leading to chaos leading to mass deaths and this is already happening.
We have a situation whereby health workers are now labelling everyone as a Covid-19 patient and this is going to kill people unnecessarily.
This morning (Friday) the CEO (chief executive officer) and I at Mpilo tried to have an educational talk with members of staff and they appear not to be receptive to any educational changes.
They have made up their mind that every patient in Zimbabwe is a Covid-19 patient which is quite grossly ignorant on its own. So yes, indeed this is a fear that I have always had.
Meanwhile, Ecosure, a subsidiary of Cassava Smartech, owned by billionaire and philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa, has offered free PPE, among a host of other incentives, for all doctors and nurses who attend duties during the fight against the epidemic.