With the strike by medical doctors still ongoing, the situation at the largest referral hospital Parirenyatwa is now dire as patients are being turned away unattended while the few doctors on duty have only resorted to dealing with emergency cases.
A visit by 263Chat news crew to Parirenyatwa recently exposed the dire situation in the country’s health delivery system.
Patients were being discharged on stretcher beds with some lying outside the hospital entrance with no hope for life.
In an interview with a young woman who had visited Parirenyatwa with her two year-old-so, revealed that inside the wards, patients were in pain with no medical staff, doctors or nurses available to attend to them.
“The situation here is very worrisome, I was admitted with my baby yesterday but there no nurses or doctors to attend to my child,” she said.
“It was only today when one doctor came and told me to go and buy medicines,” the dejected woman added.
Another woman, who was aiding her ailing mother out of the hospital said she came to Parirenyatwa following a statement by government that doctors should report for duty on Monday but found the situation the same as her last visit.
“My mother got burnt and she did not get medical attention since then. Now I have come to try to have her attended to since I heard that the doctors will be back at work on Monday. I am disappointed there was no one to attend to her,” she said.
An elderly woman who could not be attended to upon arrival at Parirenyatwa Hospital showing injuries from burns
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospital is the largest hospital in Zimbabwe with a staff compliment of 2 000 workers.
However, due to the ongoing standoff between doctors and the government, the hospital has been turned into a dying place amid reports that patients are being turned away without being attended to.
Last week, the health minister Dr Obadiah Moyo announced that doctors were to report for duty by Monday morning or face disciplinary action but the medical professionals defied the directive insisting they are incapacitated.
However, government was left with no option but to take the legal route to try and deal with the impasse.
