Residents stranded as health delivery collapses
BULAWAYO residents have complained over the rapid deterioration of services in health institutions in the country’s second largest city due to the prolonged strike by nurses demanding US dollar salaries, better working conditions and personal protective equipment.
Health delivery services have deteriorated at Mpilo Central Hospital, with patients being turned away as a result of the strike.
A survey report compiled by the Christian-based civic organisation Habakkuk Trust on Wednesday showed that the absence of essential workers has reached alarming levels at the referral hospital, with patients enduring long queues without any form of clinical assistance.
“Today (Wednesday)’s report from Mpilo’s paediatric casualty ward indicates that children presenting emergencies such as burns and poisoning were not being attended to,” part of the report read.
A Habakkuk Trust community advocacy member, who visited Mpilo Hospital for medical care, observed minors requiring urgent medical care for serious injuries wailing in agony, with no doctors in sight to attend to them.
“The few nurses manning the ward told parents accompanying minors that some of their colleagues have been affected by COVID-19 while others are on strike,” part of the report read.
“Efforts to get doctors were futile as some responded that they were in quarantine while others indicated that they were off-duty. After waiting for hours, some had to leave without any medical assistance.”
Contacted for comment, Mpilo Central Hospital acting clinical director Xolani Ndlovu yesterday said it was no longer a secret that nurses were still on strike.
He, however, said he was not aware that patients were left unattended.
“It is not a secret that nurses are still on strike, everyone knows that. But if there are people who were turned away, I have to find out. In a proper procedure, if people have concerns, they are supposed to report to the public relations department or to the clinical director,” Ndlovu said.
“Our core business is patients first and when such reports come to me, I always make it a point that I also report to my bosses so that they deal with the issues of concern. So far, there has not been any report to me of people who were turned away.”
Mpilo Hospital is the only referral hospital in the southern part of the country expected to cater for various ailments after the government turned United Bulawayo Hospitals into a COVID-19 isolation and treatment centre.
To date, the deadly virus has reportedly infected more than 120 healthcare workers in Bulawayo alone.
In June this year, nurses embarked on a nationwide industrial action over salaries and safety concerns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The frontline workers cited inadequate PPE and poor remuneration as chief among their grievances.
The deplorable state of the city’s health delivery system comes during a spike in COVID-19 local transmissions which have resulted in Bulawayo being deemed the country’s epicentre.