Online ReporterThe Rhodesia Herald
21 February 1979
A SPECIALIST physician, Dr Eric Cohen, warned yesterday that the migration of Africans to the urban areas will bring diseases, and sooner or later there will be epidemics in the cities.
He was speaking to about 150 businessmen at the Rhodesian Promotion Council’s economic symposium in Bulawayo.
He said health care systems in the rural areas had broken down and diseases, which could reach epidemic and pandemic proportions, were rearing their heads. “Rabies, malaria, typhoid, paratyphoid and tick-borne diseases are affecting not only the human population, but also the animal population.
“Stores can no longer stay open to supply basic foods, malnutrition is galloping, and the overall picture is mass of human suffering, deteriorating health, hopelessness and despair,” said Dr Cohen.
There was a steady flow of doctors in the private sector leaving the country and the pressures on those remaining were increasing. “With the potential influx of Africans on to medical aid, doctors will not be able to cope.
To overcome this, patients should be screened at paramedical health care centres, and only those requiring specialised skill and attention should be sent to doctors.
