A concerned citizen has revealed the dire conditions at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) following a visit on Friday night with his cousin, who had a dislocated shoulder.
The citizen, a lawyer in Bulawayo, commended the medical staff for their dedication but pointed out that they lacked essential medication and medical equipment, leaving them helpless in treating patients.
This situation at UBH may reflect the challenges faced by public health facilities across the country, with serious consequences for patients. Below is the account shared by the concerned citizen:
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THE SITUATION at UBH is terrible.
I had a first-hand experience of how bad our medical facilities are. It’s shocking, I tell you!
Yesterday, the 28th of February 2025, l had a first-hand experience of how bad our medical facilities have become. My cousin had a shoulder dislocation injury and I had to rush him to Cyrene Clinic. It was around 20:30 hrs, the clinic was closed, and one fine gentleman had to assist us by hunting down the medical staff.
A nurse arrived. She indicated that the dislocation was bad and referred us to UBH. And all she could give my cousin was paracetamol.
We quickly drove to UBH. As we drove into the facility, we were welcomed by the concerning spectacle of darkness, as the hospital was poorly lit; and parts of it had no lights at all. Also, we noticed that the hospital did not have security guards, not even one. And we thought he was strange and dangerous.
We navigated our way through the darkness and got into the casualty department. That area was just a mess. Nothing assuring was happening there. There were patients all over the place, and some of them were screaming in pain, and the hospital staff didn’t have the necessary medical tools or medication to help the patients. Medical staff were asking relatives or people who had brought in patients to go and buy medication or medical materials for them to be able to treat the patients.
The sights and sounds of the situation I witnessed last night at UBH were unbelievable. The only consolation was that the staff was visibly committed, but their commitment did not amount to much, without the necessary medication and medical equipment. They were helpless, literally.
Back to my horrifying experience with my cousin. The committed medical staff handled him professionally, I must say. They properly attended to his “shoulder dislocation”. After that, real drama followed.
The whole UBH institution did not have an arm sling, which is a bandage that is used to support an injured arm. l am not talking of an arm sling pouch, which I am told is more comfortable and more expensive, but a simple arm-sling bandage. So, realising that my cousin needed an arm sling, the good doctor decided to improvise. She quickly grabbed some plastics and engineered it into a makeshift arm sling bandage which also looked like an improvised arm sling pouch. We were left breathless and speechless but grateful.
The good doctor then discharged my cousin and told us to go and buy a proper arm sling and painkillers at a pharmacy. This reminded me of the recent incident in which a hospital in Beitbridge used makeshift cardboard splits for victims of a bus crash.
Anyway, we left UBH after my cousin was discharged. You can see the pictures I took of him with the plastic arm sling pouch and in severe pain, because UBH did not have painkillers to give him.
By that time, it was around 03:00 hrs this morning; there was no pharmacy open in Bulawayo. I only managed to purchase the arm sling and the painkillers after pharmacies opened for business around 09:00 hrs this morning.
The situation at UBH is dire.
As I mentioned, the medical staff there is great and appears to be quite committed but it is seriously, and I would say, tragically handicapped by the lack of medication and the lack of the necessary tools of their medical profession. From what my cousin experienced and what I saw, UBH is a hospital only in name. There is no hospital there. Something must really give.
It cannot be business as usual. I wonder whether the UBH CEO is aware of this and even more seriously, I wonder whether Zimbabwe has a Minister of Healthcare. The situation out there is really, really bad.
One can only imagine with trepidation the horror that is suffered by patients who go to UBH with more serious or life-threatening injuries. I doubt if they come out alive.
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Pindula News

A person visited United Bulawayo Hospitals with their cousin who had a shoulder injury. They found the hospital in a bad state, with lack of medication and medical tools. The hospital was poorly lit, had no security guards, and patients were asked to buy their own medication. The staff tried their best but were limited by the lack of resources. The person's cousin had to be given a makeshift arm sling. The situation at the hospital is dire, and there are concerns about the quality of care for patients with more serious injuries. Overall, the hospital is struggling due to a lack of medication and essential equipment.

"The Situation At United Bulawayo Hospitals Is Dire"

The United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) has launched an investigation into a recent baby-swapping incident at its maternity ward, a senior government official has said.
A woman who had given birth to a baby boy was shocked when a nurse handed her a baby girl.
Health and Child Care Ministry permanent secretary, Aspect Maunganidze (pictured above), told the <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/very-unfortunate-government-speaks-on-ubh-baby-swap/">Chronicle</a> on Monday that the Government is aware of the incident and described it as “very unfortunate.” Said Maunganidze:
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The ministry is aware of the unfortunate incident of ‘baby swapping’ that occurred at United Bulawayo Hospitals and awaits the results of the investigation that we instructed the hospital to undertake.
While we expect the investigation to be concluded expeditiously, we acknowledge the sensitivities around the matter.
Parallel to the investigative process, we have instructed the institution to assist with counselling all affected parties (including the staff), reorient or refresh our staff on the standard operating procedures during and after delivery, and reinforce the importance of good moral and ethical practice.
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The mother of the boy had to resort to DNA testing at a private lab in the city centre and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) to prove that the baby girl given to her by the nurse was not hers.
The nurse on duty had told her that she had given birth to a girl and, due to her Caesarean section, she might have been under sedation.
Zephania Dlamini, head of the Applied Genetics Testing Centre at NUST, confirmed that DNA tests conducted on the parents and babies unequivocally showed that the two babies had been exchanged. Said Dlamini:
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Before approaching Nust, the complainant had sought testing at the Global DNA lab in the city centre, which confirmed that the baby girl was not hers.
Our results corroborated these findings. Subsequent testing on the couple claiming to be the parents of the boy yielded negative results, while the boy’s DNA matched that of the complainant, and the girl’s DNA matched that of the other woman.
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A hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, is investigating a baby-swapping incident in the maternity ward. A mother was given the wrong baby by a nurse. The government knows about the incident and calls it unfortunate. The mother had to do DNA testing to prove the baby was not hers. The results showed that the babies were swapped. The hospital is counseling everyone involved and will review procedures to prevent this from happening again.

Government "Aware" Of Baby-Swapping Incident At United Bulawayo Hospitals

Prominent Bulawayo surgeon Dr Kelvin Tendai Kaseke, who was based at United Bulawayo Hospitals has died. He was 44.
According to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), Acting Clinical Director Dr Harrison Rambanapasi, Dr Kaseke died at Avenues Clinic in Harare.
He was seeking medical treatment after developing an illness. Said Dr Rambanapasi:
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He passed on at around midnight. He suffered a short illness, he fell ill about two weeks ago and had to seek treatment.
He developed an emergency while he was there, where he was bleeding in the head.
He also was suffering from hypertension, which likely contributed to his condition.
It is unfortunate that he failed to respond to treatment and succumbed to the illness.
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He said Dr Kaseke’s death is a blow to the medical fraternity. Said Dr Rambanapasi:
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He was a senior surgeon at UBH. He held one of the highest offices in the history of Zimbabwe’s medical history.
UBH has lost a brilliant surgeon, his family too. He was a loving and responsible man.
The greatest blow is on the medical fraternity. I personally worked with him and I gained a lot of knowledge and expertise from him. I must say I am truly gutted by his death.
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More: <a href="https://zero.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Renowned United Bulawayo Hospitals Surgeon Dies

One of Zimbabwe’s 5 biggest referral hospitals, United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), has suspended operations with immediate effect due to a lack of anaesthetic induction agents.
Anaesthetic induction agents are drugs that are administered to patients to put them to sleep during surgery.
In a memorandum dated 18 July 2022 and addressed to all consultants, doctors and wards, Acting Director of Clinical Services, Dr T Mushawarima said patients have the option of buying their own drugs. Reads the memo:
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Due to a lack of Anaesthetic Induction agents, elective lists have been suspended with immediate effect till further notice. Patients may buy their own drugs if any elective list is to proceed.
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In April this year, <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/04/15/zimbabwe-has-no-health-minister/">health worker and social commentator Setfree Mafukidze opined that Zimbabwe does not have a health minister</a> and senior officials in the Ministry of Health and Childcare are not up to the task.
Mafukidze made the remarks in response to exchanges between Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Mthuli Ncube and opposition MPs during a Question and Answer session in the National Assembly over the state of cancer treatment in Zimbabwe.
In his responses, Ncube said the funds to purchase cancer machines are available and Treasury is waiting for the Ministry of Health to make requests.

United Bulawayo Hospitals Suspends Operations

Zimbabwe’s Vice President who also doubles as the country’s Health Minister Constantino Chiwenga while touring United Bulawayo Hospitals told the people he was touring with that his ministry was working on reviving 13 pharmaceutical companies that closed down because of the economic turmoil, the Chronicle reports.
Promised Chiwenga:
<blockquote>We are going to be opening all 13 pharmaceutical companies that were closed down. We are going to revamp all those facilities which had gone to waste. We are now going to revamp that area of equipment and drug manufacturing here in Zimbabwe. When we buy from outside Zimbabwe what we are actually doing is that the meagre foreign currency, which we are earning, is lost.</blockquote>
Chiwenga also said Government hospitals were now required to seek authority from the ministry to procure consumables and medical sundries from outside the country:
<blockquote>That will be a thing of the past and it must never be repeated. We don’t want a situation where some equipment would have been purchased from another country and then upon arrival, we discover that it does suit our environment yet money would have been wasted. That has to stop.</blockquote>
He then urged medical practitioners to stop shunning the country and said we need to build the country together and said our medical practitioners in foreign countries are told you are here for money when they complain:
<blockquote>We should not shun our own country because if we do so no one will develop it. I have seen our own specialists in foreign hospitals whenever they see wrong things being done at those institutions, they are not allowed to say anything and they are told ‘shut up and you did not come here to teach us; you are here for money.</blockquote>
While at the hospital <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2020/10/05/chiwenga-recounts-how-his-life-was-saved-at-ubh-37-years-ago/">VP Chiwenga also narrated how doctors at the hospital saved him</a> when his appendix ruptured some 3 decades ago.
More: <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/my-life-was-saved-at-ubh-vp-chiwenga/">Chronicle </a>

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