adminand battered by a myriad of problems. This in turn has had an effect on the recipients of their services.
Turning a blind eye on it could be unfair especially to the patients and innocent children. The challenges range from shortage of health personnel, drugs, equipment including essential vehicles such as ambulances and worn-out infrastructure.
As a result, those with a bigger and better financial clout have, in most cases, opted for private hospitals or doctors, but the major question is: What should be done for the poor to access better health service?
For example, most of the infrastructure at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo was set up many years ago and as such most of it is in need of repair or replacement. The health institution was meant to cater for a small population of about 300 000 people but now it has to accommodate the Bulawayo population which has ballooned over the years and other patients are referred there from other provinces such as Matabeleland North and South, the Midlands and Masvingo. Small but important materials such as blankets and beds need to be replaced. At times patients are just given a doctor’s prescription and asked to buy the drugs from pharmacies because they would be out of stock at the hospital. Pregnant women and babies have to endure the brunt of the health situations. As water woes continue in Bulawayo, Mpilo Central Hospital has not been spared. At times relatives are forced to bring water for the patients. The challenges facing the hospital therefore calls for the corporate world, churches, community leaders and philanthropists to pool resources together and assist the institutions.
The United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) has not been spared from the problems bedevilling Mpilo Central Hospital. UBH chief executive officer Mrs Nonhlanhla Ndlovu recently acknowledged the challenges facing the hospital but blamed this on the huge number of patients the hospital had to cater for. She said mistakes might have happened in the past years but in 2013 things should be better. No one would want to see the sick suffering without medicine while admitted at a hospital.
The child mortality rate should be reduced. To see a woman dying during child birth is traumatic. It’s high time as a country we come together and mobilise adequate resources to buy drugs and medical equipment.
The 2007 Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Maternal and Prenatal Study shows that nearly 100 children die every day due to diseases that could be prevented. While maternal mortality is at 725 per 100 000 live births.
Water woes seem to have become a perennial problem at most referral hospitals. The shortage of specialist doctors is another area of concern.
Many people have as a result been forced to postpone undergoing urgent surgical operations as a result of the shortage of these specialists.
The 2010 Millennium Development Goals Status Report on Zimbabwe noted that: “The country has been facing severe human resources capacity constraints in the public sector, the health sector in particular.
“Filling vacant posts and responding to the needs of the doctors, nurses that have remained in work has been difficult”.
The health sector is critical since it deals with human life and there is therefore urgent need to fill vacant posts.
Our health cannot be burdened on the Government or the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare alon but needs all stakeholders that include the private sector and non-governmental organisations if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
l Jonah Nyoni is Developmental Journalist and motivational speaker. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.jonahnyoni.blogspot.com. Tel: 0772 581 918.
Online Reporter