Covid-19: A staggering number of
Ahuge number of Covid-19 victims in Zimbabwe are dying outside health institutions with half of the casualties in Matabeleland South succumbing to the respiratory disease before accessing treatment, an analysis of official statistics has revealed.
Zimbabwe’s health delivery system is in danger of being overwhelmed by the resurgent Covid-19 outbreak, which some experts believe is being fuelled by the new South African variant of the virus that was first identified in China in 2019.
Some Zimbabweans that have fallen seriously ill after contracting the virus have failed to access life-saving treatment because hospitals had either run out of beds or don’t have enough oxygen.
In some parts of the country such as Bulawayo – the epicentre of the pandemic before the shift to Harare during the second wave — there are limited facilities to handle Covid-19 cases as the government is still struggling to upgrade designated hospitals.
Authorities at the United Bulawayo Hospitals, the only operational public health facility for Covid-19 patients in the country’s second largest city, last week warned that oxygen stocks had become dangerously low.
An analysis of Covid-19 statistics tracked by The Standard working in collaboration with the Information for Development Trust — a non-profit organisation supporting local investigative journalism — revealed that a staggering number of people were dying in the communities.
According to statistics from the Health and Child Care ministry, Harare accounted for 49.1% of the Covid-19 deaths that occurred outside hospitals countrywide between March 20, 2020 and January 16, 2021 against a national average of 31.7%.
At least 45.4% of Covid-19 deaths in the capital during the same period happened outside hospitals.
Matabeleland South, at 50% community deaths, however, had the highest provincial proportion of people dying at home.
It was followed by Mashonaland West at 48.1%, Matabeleland North (42.9%) and Mashonaland East (42.1%).
Health experts say the reasons for the high number of people dying outside health facilities varied from the general lack of access to health facilities in Zimbabwe to diminished confidence in the health delivery system.
Zimbabwe’s once robust health delivery system has over the years been weakened by gross underfunding and a brain drain that has left major hospitals without equipment and drugs.
The Covid-19 outbreak that began in March last year also coincided with prolonged strikes by health workers, who were protesting against lack of personal protective equipment and poor working conditions.
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) executive director Calvin Fambirai said the high incidence of community deaths pointed to a serious crisis in the health delivery system.
“Firstly, this could be indicative of an overburdened health system that is now failing to cope with the disease burden,” Fambirai told The Standard.
“It can also point towards a weak surveillance system where cases are not identified early.
“It may also show poor confidence in the health care system as some individuals choose to be treated outside the formal care system.”
Zimbabwe’s Covid-19 testing capacity remains very low with only 3 829 having taken PCR tests countrywide on Friday.
Chitungwiza, a sprawling town with a population of 350 000, conducted a meagre 28 PCR tests on the day.
Itai Rusike, executive director of the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), said the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak that started with the reopening of borders in December and the influx of returning residents during the festive season had put a severe strain on the health delivery system.
“What has been happening since the country was opened up and the borders, together with the relaxation of the lockdown up to the festive season, our cases have