THE Zimbabwe Nurses Association (Zina) says President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s recent hospital tour has confirmed that the country’s health system is in a state of collapse and urgently needs intervention.
The visit exposed the critical state of public hospitals, where nurses work under extreme conditions and patients suffer due to a lack of medicine, equipment and proper care.
Mnangagwa this week visited Parirenyatwa and Sally Mugabe hospitals following growing public outcry and repeated calls from Zina, whose president, Enock Dongo, has been warning of a deepening crisis in the country’s health sector.
The visit also came after Youth minister, Tino Machakaire, urged Mnangagwa to visit public hospitals and see the deteriorating state of affairs.
Mnangagwa's visit was made without Health minister Douglas Mombeshora.
For months, Zina has been speaking out about the severe shortages of medicines, lack of essential equipment, collapsing infrastructure and the dire working conditions that have pushed the country’s health system to the edge.
Dongo said neglect by the government has plunged hospitals into disrepair, leaving citizens to pay the price through unnecessary suffering and avoidable deaths.
"Public hospitals have no medication. Patients are told to buy their drugs or supplies — things that should be readily available. People are dying from diseases that are easily treatable. These are not deaths due to lack of medical knowledge or skill — but deaths caused simply by the absence of basic medication, equipment and resources," Dongo said in a statement.
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"Diagnostic centres are almost non-existent. Basic laboratory services are unavailable. Nurses are unable to conduct essential tests and the sick are being referred to private hospitals that they cannot afford. They remain in public wards, in pain, waiting, suffering."
At the two hospitals, Mnangagwa walked through crumbling wards, where windows were shattered and beds had no blankets.
He passed through corridors with no running water and dilapidated infrastructure as he listened to doctors and nurses how they were operating within the health institutions.
Patients have been routinely turned away or referred to private clinics because X-ray machines, diagnostic labs and basic testing equipment were not functioning.
Dongo added that nurses were enduring inhumane conditions.
"Many go to work on an empty stomach, unable to afford transport or food, and return home to families facing the same hunger. Some walk long distances to reach hospitals, only to work long, underpaid shifts in facilities falling apart around them.
"Health workers remain poorly paid, which has also led to low staff morale and brain drain, with skilled personnel leaving the country for greener pastures."
Mnangagwa also visited Natpharm, the State-run medical supply agency responsible for distributing drugs to government hospitals.
