CHURCH
HOSPITALS BEARING THE BRUNT IN ZIMBABWE
Church
hospitals are now bearing the brunt of the health care burden in
Zimbabwe, according to the Catholic
Health Care Association of South Africa.
“Government hospitals and clinics are hardly functioning in many areas,
and as a result patients are streaming to the church health care facilities
which still continue to function, despite many hardships” says CATHCA’s
director, Tim Smith. Tim
undertook a two day visit to
Zimbabwe
in late July 2007, in order to
assess the situation of health care and the position of the Catholic hospitals
and clinics in particular.
The
brief visit did not allow for more than one visit to a hospital, that of Mount
St. Mary’s in the Wedza district about 150 km south of Harare. The fifty year old hospital was physically in decay, but still
functioning with a dedicated staff who were busy dealing with patients despite
all the odds. These included the
lack of power (electricity operating for only a few hours a day), the lack of
water (linked to the former because the pumps are electrically operated), lack
of staff and lack of medicines, and things like bed linen and linen savers.
There is also a problem with transport.
They have two vehicles, one of which serves as an ambulance, but it is
not always serviceable. Lack of fuel is an ongoing problem.
(Inset:
Map of Zimbabwe Christian hospitals. To enlarge, click on the thumbnail)
In
Harare
, Tim met with Vuyelwa
Chitimbire, who runs the Zimbabwe Association of Church-related Hospitals,
called ZACH. This organisation
brings together 125 church-affiliated hospitals and clinics, of which 51 are
Catholic (see map). ZACH has 68% of
the bed capacity in
Zimbabwe
, but this accounts for only
35% of the health care institutions overall, which indicates that the church-run
hospitals have a large capacity. Although
many hospitals do receive a subsidy from the government, this is not nearly
enough to keep them running. They
still need donor funding, especially now.
Mrs. Chitimbire said that “Patients are coming increasingly to church
hospitals, since they are still functioning, and have medicines”.
According to Mrs. Chitimbire, Church hospitals need many things: latex
gloves, protective clothing, linen savers, soap, disposal bins for sharps,
syringes (especially for paediatrics), nutrition packs, supplementary food for
infants, used clothing and toys for children, etc.
On
Friday 27th July, Tim attended a meeting of the Diocesan Coordinators
of Catholic health care. Because of
the lack of fuel, only two Dioceses,
Harare
and Mutare, were present.
During the meeting several issues came up which had been mentioned
before: the problems of the electricity and water crisis, of no drugs in
government hospitals, of vacant posts for nurses, of the difficulty of accessing
drugs for chronic conditions, of there being no blood in the blood banks. Tim’s
report concludes: “The health situation is indeed desperate in many ways which
reflects the total reality of
Zimbabwe
. It is hard to see any
improvement in the short or even long term. The Catholic and other church
hospitals are in dire straits but performing a very important function for
desperately sick people”.
CATHCA will organise the collection of any of the above items which people might
want to send to our hospitals and clinics in
Zimbabwe.
These will be collected at the CATHCA offices at St. Vincent
School
for the Deaf in
Melrose, Johannesburg, and from there sent to
Zimbabwe.
Please contact Loek Goemans or Tim Smith on 011-880-4022 or email at info@cathca.co.za
For those who would like to make a monetary donation, the Bank account
details are as follows:
Bank:
Standard Bank
Branch:
Jan Smuts Avenue, Code 4205
Account
Name: CATHCA
Account
number: 00 187 627 9
Please
mark clearly "Zimbabwe Appeal' in the beneficiary reference section. Thank
you for your generosity.
