Zimbabwe's downward spiral

This is an other follow up to the Starve the voters headline posted here before. Corruption and mismanagement of the public health system, together with the rise of AIDS, have brought the life expectancy in Zimbabwe down by 30 years.
There will be elections in Zimbabwe on thursday and Mugabe wants to win at any cost. He’s even arming youth militia to prepare for a possible ‘Ukraine-style’ uprising like Archbishop Pius Ncube of Zimbabwe has called for.
Also check out Ted’s headline on Zimbabwe: A Morsel of Goat Meat and Rys’s headline on Chinese influence in Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa.

30 March 2005

Secret tour of Zimbabwean wards shows collapse of health system

Driving into one of the main public hospitals in Bulawayo, you pass a wide, curved roundabout outside casualty. It was carefully designed to allow several ambulances to drop patients off as close to the door as possible, before driving off seamlessly to another emergency.

But now, the driveway is empty. Most patients who can afford the hospital fees come in on rickety minibuses, with every jolt making their pain worse. The wealthier come in borrowed cars that belch fumes, making the passengers cough.

One doctor remembers exactly when the ambulances disappeared. “During the constitutional referendum [in early 2000] Zanu-PF commandeered all parastatal transport, including ambulances, to go and campaign,” he recalled. “The vehicles were completely wrecked and a viable hospital referral system, which brought patients in from the countryside at regular intervals, disappeared.”

Zimbabwe’s health sector was once the envy of other African countries, but two decades of mismanagement, neglect and theft have left the country short of medical care. The government realises that the health sector is something to be ashamed of – it rarely allows foreigners to enter public hospitals unless they are on an official, state-approved tour.

One doctor, who…

Posted by BurningMonk

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