Government responds to President’s hospital findings

FOLLOWING President Mnangagwa’s impromptu visit to two of Harare’s largest referral hospitals this week, a significant overhaul of Zimbabwe’s health sector is already taking shape, marked by a major Government procurement of essential medicines for chronic conditions.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care has confirmed that a shipment of life-saving drugs for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and respiratory diseases will be delivered to public health institutions by the end of this month.

This forms part of a US$2 million procurement initiative, with an additional US$3 million pledged by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion.

The bold and unconventional hospital visits saw the Head of State break protocol, travelling by private motorcade to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and Sally Mugabe Central Hospital.

President Mnangagwa interacts with staff and patients during his impromptu visit to Sally Mugabe Hospital and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in Harare. —Picture: Presidential Photographer Mike Muswere

There, he witnessed first-hand the harsh realities facing public health institutions — critical drug shortages, outdated infrastructure, and overburdened systems. The President’s direct observation has swiftly catalysed tangible improvements in the country’s health sector.

Responding to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, stated the Government is working towards achieving full medicine availability, from rural clinics to central referral hospitals.

“The ministry has ordered medicines amounting to US$2 million for chronic diseases like blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, and lung-related ailments, and we anticipate that this medication should be available by the end of the month.

“This is not the end, but we were promised an additional US$3 million by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion.

This funding is meant to complement the resources we already have, and we’ve requested a significant amount so that we can adequately cater for diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, and others,” Dr Mombeshora confirmed.

Dr Mombeshora noted that medicine stock levels vary across health institutions, with some hospitals currently having as little as 40 percent of the required drugs in stock.

“We want to have 100 percent medication, but as we moved around hospitals, some had 60 to 65 percent while others had as low as 40 percent of medicine in stock.

“We’re working hard to make sure that we add to what they have.
We also keep engaging the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion so that we have an adequate budget for medicines across the country,” he said.

When asked about efforts to increase local medicine production, Dr Mombeshora explained that while 14 companies in Zimbabwe currently manufacture drugs, there is a pressing need to expand and bring more manufacturers into the sector.

“Two of the companies manufacture medication for animals, and the other 12 for humans. These companies can’t provide adequate stocks of medication, and the cumulative percentage of medicines manufactured by local companies is only 13 percent.”

He said that his ministry is working collaboratively with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to empower local companies to manufacture adequate stocks of medication.

“We believe that we need to start manufacturing our own vaccines. We learnt a critical lesson during the Covid-19 pandemic when the Government had to import all the vaccines.”