Harare Mayor Councilor Jacob Mafume has indicated that his administration will comply with the court order to re-open council clinics while bemoaning lack of government support as hindering the smooth operation of the health facilities.
The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) recently won a court case in which the High Court ordered the City of Harare to re-open all of its 42 clinics to the public. Council clinics had been closed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and lack of sufficient medical and protective equipment with only a few clinics open for emergencies and maternal services.
In a live interview with a local publication this afternoon, Mafume bemoaned the lack of support from central government.
“We have to comply with the court orders, we will have to open. We will have to ensure that opening is not academic, it is an opening that is relevant or which is able to provide real service to the people and that requires cooperation from Central government.
“We are contributing to the healthcare of the country but we are not getting the dues that we are supposed to get in terms of the Health Act. Government is supposed to contribute 50% of what we contribute to the health care of the country. We last received the contributions in 1996.” said Mafume
He said Harare City Council expected the government to also takeover salaries since it had assumed the health care system from council.
“We need clarity on the takeover (of the health care by Government) because we assumed that it also meant they will take over the salaries of our health care workers apparently that is not the case negotiations are going on. We also need our health workers to be given the same conditions being given to Government workers in relation to the US$75 allowance that others are getting,” he said.
Cllr Mafume also added that Council health care workers had declared incapacitation as a result of poor wages and working conditions.
“This has created a situation where our workers have declared incapacity to be at work in relation to our many clinics and have prioritized those dealing with Covid-19, maternal health and those dealing with serious cases and we have had to ration our employees and the clinics that we open.” said Mafume
