Harare hospital battles water crisis; patients forced to bring own supplies
By Staff Reporter
WATER challenges continue to rock Sally Mugabe Central Hospital (formerly Harare Hospital) in a development emblematic of the wider crisis in the country’s healthcare sector.
NewZimbabwe.com is reliably informed that the country’s second largest referral hospital sometimes goes for days without tap or even borehole water.
“Today (Saturday) we have water, but we sometimes go for several days without supplies,” said a woman caring for a child who has been admitted at the hospital.
“I have been around for some time with my child who is admitted here and the situation is not good.
“We go for days without water; not even borehole water, and we do not know what the problem is.
She added, “Once in a while we get water from the doctors’ residences.
“Patients who are able walk have to go to get themselves water from the doctors’ residence.”
Harare Central Hospital Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Pasi, said he was not sure about the situation on the ground since he is currently out of the country.
“I am not really sure about the situation on the ground because I am currently out of the country and will only be able to confirm when I get back,” he said.
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“Anyways, the water challenge has always been there. It’s a perennial issue and sometimes it is not about us but the Harare City Council.”
When this publication visited the hospital, one of the doctors confirmed that patients were often provided buckets to fetch their own water.
“We have not had water for several weeks now, and most of the women who gave birth here are given containers to get water to use and also to bath their infants,” he said.
The hospital has been grappling with other various challenges, including the shortage of equipment and medicines.
Healthcare workers have also gone on strike this year, protesting the erosion of their salaries by hyperinflation and the fall in value of the Zimbabwe dollar.
Zimbabwe’s healthcare sector has struggled for years due to under funding and the flight abroad of doctors and nurses in search of better salaries.
Experts say the health crisis has its roots in the country’s wider economic collapse which is blamed on mismanagement by the Zanu PF government and rampant corruption.
“Government has continuously failed to invest in the health and other social sectors for decades, leaving many people dying of treatable diseases and a visit to some public clinics and hospitals confirms the deplorable state of the institutions,” said Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZ) in a recent statement.
“In some instances, there are no bandages, gloves, and syringes available and there are situations where patients are forced to wash and reuse bandages, increasing the risk of further infection.
“Most of the equipment at the public health institutions is archaic and has broken down after years of neglect of the sector.”
