A former Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Development during the late President Robert Mugabe’s rule has questioned Vice President Constantino Chiwenga’s state of mind accusing the government of failing to provide care in hospitals.
Posting on Twitter Dr Godfrey Gandawa said there are a number of remedies that the health ministry can take to ease the pandemic.
“Apart from vaccines, there are a number of therapies that have been shown to be effective in alleviating critical Covid-19 cases. The ministry of health has not taken a single step towards making these therapies available in our hospitals.
“It therefore comes as little surprise that Covid-19 is now a death sentence for those who find themselves requiring hospital admission. It is the direct result of failure by government to provide a reasonable level of care in our hospitals,” posted Gandawa.
He had no kind words for Chiwenga who is also Health Minister after the latter claimed hospitals had adequate equipment to deal with the pandemic.
“Chiwenga, who appears increasingly out of his depth at the Health ministry, has been reported as saying claims of hospital bed shortages are false and are being peddled by pen-mercenaries. Such nonsense is unexpected of government at a time of crisis such as this.
“The reference to a shortage of beds does not mean a literal shortage of metal frames and mattresses. Instead, it is a reference to the capacity to deliver treatment in critical cases. This includes ventilators, oxygen availability and the aforementioned therapies.
“Chiwenga is either not in the right state of mind or he is taking the people of Zimbabwe for a ride. Whatever the case, he is clearly an ineffective health minister – a role he mistakes for barking threatening commands against health workers,” said Gandawa.
The former deputy minister took a dig at the Government saying they are concerned with ‘sideshows’ instead of dealing with the pandemic.
“While the pandemic is ravaging the world, Zimbabwe’s government is more concerned with sideshows – incarcerating opposition leaders and boasting over the arrest of thousands of Covid-19 regulation violators. These are not achievements.” he said.
