By Shylette Chipangura|Zim government intentional abandonment of the health system is a form of genocide The incapacitation of the public health system in Zimbabwe is something that should concern all of us.
The situation is as follows: On the one hand are the massively underpaid doctors who have on numerous occasions withdrawn their labour because they simply cannot afford to go to work what with the pittance they receive from this government.
And on the other hand the hospitals themselves are so underfunded that patients have to bring their own bandages, test tubes etcetera to receive care.
What makes the delivery of care even worse is that hospitals are mired by power cuts and poor access to clean water. Imagine a surgeon trying to remove an appendix with no electricity and no anaesthetic for the patient. It’s like we are back to the 19th century were people received surgery while using a bottle of whisky as anaesthetic.
But all these things are happening not because of some supernatural occurrence that is beyond human intervention, NO! They are happening because the public healthcare system is massively underfunded.
Why? Well, the money for health care is there but this government simply does not care.
Mnangagwa is not moved by human suffering and there is lots of evidence to prove this. Recently, he made jokes about eating vegetables in response to people who were complaining about price hikes in meat. He simply does not care.
And when he and his ministers need healthcare they use millions of the public funds to fly abroad. So the money is there, but this government is intentionally depriving people of decent health care by withholding funds. It’s a silent genocide.
If it weren’t for the NGOs, charities and compassionate clinicians who are offering their services free of charge, the country would be full of mass graves. In acknowledgement of this dire situation, the MDC Reading Branch organised a demonstration and fundraiser in Reading Town in the UK, to raise money for basic medical amenities for the people of Zimbabwe.
We could not just sit back and watch our people suffering in silence. We know in Zimbabwe if people want to demonstrate against anything that this government is going they will get beaten up, abducted or killed. We are also aware that if the MDC try to raise funds and demonstrate in Zimbabwe the government is not allowing them and carried out raids in their offices for even thinking about doing such a thing.
Nevertheless, we went ahead with our demo and raised awareness of the dire situation to the British public who showed great interest to help. We also made our message clear to them that this problem was a result of the Zimbabwean government intentionally abandoning public health in a manner akin to a silent genocide.
See below for some of the pictures from demo. Thee money raised will be used to buy bandages, test tubes, surgical gloves, antiseptic creams and various other basic medical amenities. This is our modest contribution in an effort to help. Our resources are limited but every little helps and these things make a huge difference in people’s lives. Donations and handover of the medical amenities will be publicised.