In Zimbabwe, Cholera Patients Are Treated Under Trees, Drips Hanging From Branches
A disturbing picture went viral on social media platforms this Sunday showing cholera patients in Chiredzi, one of the most underdeveloped districts in Zimbabwe, being treated under a tree with drips or intravenous (IV) infusion dispensers hanging from tree branches.
The “open field hospital” is said to be at Mapanza, near Mukwasine Estates.
Most of the people who commented on the photo queried why a country such as Zimbabwe, endowed with abundant resources, cannot treat patients with dignity.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba, posting on one of his X accounts dhonzamusoro077, seemed to make fun of critics, bragging that the Government at least provided the medicines for the patients and also pays the health workers’ salaries. He wrote:
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By the way, who bought the life-saving saline fluid? Who employed and meets the salaries of the hard-working staff? The vehicle which ferried them to the affected areas? Kumeso kwenyu mese!
In another post, Charamba hit out at the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) which dominates the majority of urban councils in the country, saying the party takes money from residents but cannot provide the barest of services such as collecting garbage.
Charamba blamed the colonial government, which was replaced by the ZANU PF government nearly 44 years ago, for Chiredzi’s underdevelopment. He wrote:
UNOTONZWA MADUNUNU ETRIPLE C PONTIFICATING ABOUT FIELD INTERVENTIONS BY OUR MEDICAL STAFF IN COLONIALLY NEGLECTED CHIREDZI WHICH IS NOW BEING DEVELOPED; YET THEY HAVE TO WAIT FOR CENTRAL GOVT TO CLEAN GARBAGE FOR WHICH THE SWINDLE RATEPAYERS BY WAY OF LEVIES!
According to a report, the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society later provided a tent to be used by health personnel for the cholera patients.
Zimbabwe’s public health service system is in a sorry state after years of underfunding by the State. Hospitals lack basic medicines such as liquid paracetamol while doctors and nurses are poorly-paid.
More: Pindula News
