Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve, [email protected]
GOVERNMENT is preparing to widen the gates of public healthcare, allowing the country’s most vulnerable citizens to walk through not only for consultations, but for full medical treatment, investigations and essential medication. The promise reaches pregnant women, children under five, individuals with mental health conditions and the elderly — groups who, for far too long, have stood at the periphery of a system that asked them to choose between survival and their pockets.
As he addressed Parliament, the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, painted a picture of a healthcare financing model finally stretching to meet the needs of those it was built to serve. His presentation hinted at a slow but decisive revolution, one carried in the pages of the forthcoming National Health Insurance Bill — legislation designed to close the cruel gap that has left elderly citizens stranded without life-saving medicines and crucial diagnostic tests.
At present, care for senior citizens is governed by a Statutory Instrument from 2002, a relic from an era whose generosity ends at the consultation room door. Under its provisions, a 75-year-old can indeed see a doctor for free, yet must later stand in the pharmacy queue clutching prescriptions she cannot afford, or take the long, painful walk home because X-rays and CT scans remain financially out of reach for pension-based households. It is a system held together by good intentions and outdated regulations — one the minister acknowledged has outlived its usefulness.
“It’s true that in public institutions we have said the elderly, 70 years and above, will receive treatment for free, that is for consultation. We are in the process of including all the treatment, consultation and medical investigations. This will be included in the National Health Insurance Bill, which we are going to bring to Parliament and all those things will be included there,” said the minister.
As he spoke, it became clear that the Bill does not merely patch leaks; it dreams bigger. Dr Mombeshora went on to explain that the widening circle of free care would embrace more groups whose vulnerabilities demand compassion over bureaucracy.
“We are also revising other treatment modalities involving pregnant women, those with mental health, children under the age of five and so on. They will also be included in the Bill,” he said.
The shift is quietly radical. It recognises that a diagnosis without access to the cure is little more than a cruel consolation prize. True Universal Health Coverage, the minister implied, must be built on the conviction that care is incomplete if affordability is left behind.
Such ambition naturally raises the question of sustainability. In response, Dr Mombeshora revealed that Treasury is moving to protect and ring fence specific health related taxes — the airtime levy, the sugar tax, sin taxes — creating a protected stream of funding that feeds directly into public health.
“We are also advocating for ring-fencing all funds that are related to health, like the airtime levy, sugar tax and sin taxes, so that all those monies can be accounted for and they can help in the treatment of the targeted groups,” he said.
He traced the Bill’s journey through the legislative machinery with a tone that blended realism and momentum.
“What I can update is that we have done the zero draft. It has gone back to the Attorney General’s Office. We have done the second draft and now we are doing the final draft. So, the speed at which it will move through Parliament stages will determine when this can be implemented.
“Unfortunately, what was there in our Statutory Instrument in the past, which is a Statutory Instrument of 2002 did not include treatment. Therefore, we have no budget for that and we now want it to be included in the Act so that it can be budgeted for.”
Yet the minister did not shy away from the uncomfortable truth that even free services are meaningless without working hospitals, functioning theatres and reliable diagnostic equipment. He acknowledged the inadequacies with a straightforward honesty rarely associated with officialdom — and then pointed to a silver lining: the sugar tax, quietly reshaping hospital corridors and equipment rooms.
“In terms of facilities, it is true that some of our facilities don’t have enough equipment, but this is what we are now addressing through the sugar tax,” he said.
The minister outlined progress with a sense of momentum.
“We started with the procurement of cancer machines, which we reported last time that two of the machines are already in the country and the other two are waiting for shipment from Netherlands.
“We are in the next stage where we have said all provincial and central hospitals are going to get new X-ray machines, CT scanners and the central hospitals are also going to get additional MRI scanners. This will make sure that all our provincial and central hospitals have diagnostic equipment,” he said.
Even the district hospitals, often left behind in conversations about modernisation, are being swept into the fold.
“In terms of laboratory equipment, most of our district hospitals now have digital X-ray machines, new theatre machines and ultrasound machines. So, we are moving with the procurement to make sure that all our institutions are adequately equipped,” he said.
If Parliament passes the Bill, the transformation will be profound. It will mean that millions of Zimbabweans — the grandmother counting coins at the pharmacy counter, the father choosing between groceries and a scan, the pregnant woman rationing her visits, the child whose fever should not be a financial gamble — will finally have access to care that heals, not burdens.
It will mean that the simplest, most human expectation — to seek help without fear of financial ruin — becomes possible again.
