NGO rescues Luveve diarrhoea patients

INTERNATIONAL humanitarian agency, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Zimbabwe has stepped in and provided treatment to residents of Luveve, Bulawayo, hard hit by a killer diarrhoea outbreak.

Government has also deployed army doctors to assist the overly stretched local authority, which is already battling a myriad of challenges resulting from a collapsing water and sewer system.

The diarrhoea outbreak, first reported in Luveve high-density suburb, has claimed 12 lives and infected nearly 2 000 others in the city.

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has identified the killer disease as gastrointestinal disease, linked to the grinding water shortages facing the city.

“In response to a diarrhoea outbreak, MSF Zimbabwe is on the ground providing assistance to the City of Bulawayo with medicines, IV [intravenous] infusions, water buckets and PPE [personal protective equipment]. We are working towards minimising the spread and treating the infected,” MSF Zimbabwe said yesterday.

Reports indicate that water quality tests done by the local authority, National University of Science and Technology and Cimas have been inconclusive.

Government has attributed the disease to a six-day water-shedding regime implemented by the council following a sharp drop at its supply dams.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) urged the local authority to take urgent measures to stop the spread of the disease.

“The outbreak compounds the already existing public health crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” ZADHR said in a statement.

“As an urgent mitigation measure, the Municipality of Bulawayo must provide clean and safe water through the use of bowsers, drilling of boreholes in affected areas and in other areas to respond to the growing crisis,” the doctors said.

They called on the government to also expedite the completion of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project to address the perennial water challenges in the city and the region at large.