In Zimbabwe, coronavirus sufferers were asked to buy their own ventilators

Zimbabwe shows what happens when the coronavirus collides with one of the most deteriorated healthcare systems in the world.

Nurses at a major public hospital in the capital are on strike after their colleagues died from a lack of personal protective equipment, medical facilities were left without oxygen, and funeral homes were unable to keep up.

Zimbabweans are well aware that if they get sick, the health system will not be able to help them. That includes government spokesman Nick Mangwana, who has warned citizens not to contract the virus because hospitals are overwhelmed, and a well-known politician who caused a stir when he told people to buy their own ventilators.

Amid the huge number of infections and deaths in the US and Europe, the Africa pandemic has been an afterthought. But for countries with sizable outbreaks and shattered health systems, the pain and death from Covid-19 is fearsome.

Two decades of economic stagnation have left Zimbabwe with few resources to cope with an outbreak that is gathering momentum despite the closure and the sunset-to-sunrise curfew. Official figures disagree with accounts provided by nurses and patients. While just over 30,000 cases and more than 900 deaths have been confirmed so far, there has been little evidence and deaths have risen to repeated daily records this month.

“Zimbabwe is the worst prepared country in southern Africa,” said Robert Besseling, chief executive of Pangea-Risk, a Mauritius-based political risk consultancy, in an emailed response to questions.

“Hospitals are struggling to cope, while there is not enough foreign exchange to compete with other states for the supply of drugs and oxygen.”

Nurses at Sally Mugabe Hospital, named after former President Robert Mugabe’s first wife, in the capital Harare say they only receive one mask per 12-hour shift and must wear protective aprons normally worn in bakeries. .

Since the death on January 7 of Head Nurse Miriam Pundu, they have refused to return to work until they are provided with the appropriate personal protective equipment.

“Like all health systems in the world, Covid has put a lot of pressure,” said Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s finance minister, in an interview on January 20.

“We continue to acquire more PPE, we never say we have enough, we are doing well. Prevention is the best medicine.”

Out of reach

Private hospitals are better equipped, but out of reach for the vast majority of Zimbabweans. The cost of admission ranges from $ 2,500 to $ 5,000, according to Norman Matara, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Association of Physicians for Human Rights. A teacher earns the equivalent of $ 222 a month.

While Zimbabwe’s elite have often traveled out of the country for medical care, hospitals are under pressure in most countries now and have no space. Sibusiso Moyo, the country’s Foreign Minister and former army general who was the face of a coup in 2017, died of Covid-19 this week, as did Transport Minister Joel Matiza. Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri died of the disease in August.

The Zimbabwe Independent reported on January 22 that several cabinet ministers, senior government officials and businessmen have the disease, citing unidentified people.

Kuda Musasiwa, founder of Fresh In A Box, a Harare-based company that sells groceries online, was hospitalized for two weeks in a private facility after contracting the coronavirus.

“It was very difficult to get him a bed due to the congestion caused by too many Covid-19 patients,” his father, Roy Musasiwa, said in an interview. “After he got a bed and a fan, it was a huge relief because we were in a touch and go situation.”

Many dead

The bill for his two-week stay, including 10 days on a fan, came to $ 14,000. Upon being released from the hospital on January 17, Musasiwa said his son’s main concern after regaining consciousness “was seeing so many people die.”

Desperate citizens, including human rights activist Sithabile Dewah, have taken to social media for help finding hospitals for Covid-19 patients.

Demand for oxygen is skyrocketing as people pile up in case they require hospitalization, said Unigas, a local healthcare company. Some have chosen to buy $ 2,200 concentrators, which produce an oxygen-enriched gas by purging the atmospheric air of other elements. The government issued a tender on January 13 for the supply of oxygen.

When Killer Zivhu, a former legislator for the ruling party, said on Twitter earlier this month that people should buy their own fans, it angered citizens who already have to stock up on everything from water to electricity, because government services have been collapsed. Since then, his post has been removed.

Conflicting messages from the government have added to the panic.

Deputy Health Minister John Mangwiro told reporters on January 6 that “the decision to leave home is a decision of life and death.”

Nine days later, Health Minister and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said the reports of overwhelmed hospitals were an “exaggeration” and that “Zimbabwe’s public and private health institutions still have adequate capacity to provide health services to all patients. “.

Suitable Sendoff

But the experience of Nyasha Matsika, general manager of operations for Zimbabwe’s largest funeral services company, Doves Holdings, tells a different story.

Doves had to withdraw its staff from its Christmas vacation to produce more coffins and caskets, as the number of daily funerals tripled to 21 at its main branch in Harare. At the beginning of the year, he was confident that stocks would last until April.

Unable to bury loved ones in the usual custom, as lockdown regulations restrict funeral gatherings to just 30 people and burials must take place within 24 hours, Matsika said families are hiring luxury hearses such as the Mercedes Pilato to transport the corpses of relatives.

“The funerals that are taking place are not normal,” he said. Now “is the only proper goodbye for those you love,” he said.