MPILO Central Hospital Clinical Director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya
has said his staff will continue to attend to patients seeking medical services
despite the ongoing strike by some doctors.
In an interview last Thursday, Dr Ngwenya said he was
pleased with the dedication and patriotism shown by a majority of doctors at
the institution, as most of them were reporting for duty.
He said from a complement of 204 doctors, 144 were at work,
while a majority of medical experts across the country were on strike demanding
an upward review of salaries and working conditions.
“I am proud of the doctors and other staff at Mpilo. About
71 percent of doctors across all grades are at work. We have eight who are on
leave and 52 doctors who are on strike. While we cannot operate as smoothly as
we would wish, we are still able to attend to everyone who comes to the
hospital. We attend to over 200 patients every day. We have 600 patients
admitted to various wards and they are all getting medical care.
“We have the maternity wing operating fully and we deliver
about 30 babies a day with about 10 deliveries through Caesarean operations.
This should tell you that we are really doing our best under the circumstances.
Whether the doctors who are at work are happy or not is neither here nor there.
What is important is that they are dedicated to their work and are on the
ground helping people. The problem is that they constantly get threats from
some quarters over why they did not join the strike, but we have taken a stance
as an institution that we should be here helping our people as not everyone can
afford private doctors or private hospitals. Imagine a granny bitten by a snake
or crocodile in Lupane, where would she go? We don’t want people to sell their
cows and goats because they need medical services. Let those who go to private
institutions go there out of their own free will,” said Dr Ngwenya.
Dr Ngwenya said they were screening patients as they come
and those with serious ailments and chronic conditions were given special
attention.
“Our Intensive Care Unit and theatre section are
operational so if you need an operation to save your life we can go there right
away. We have a doctor at the outpatients and casualty departments. I can
assure the nation that we run lifesaving procedures and we give that vital
treatment. We cannot just sit and watch our people die when we can help. In
fact, we have not recorded any deaths which we can say could have been avoided
if there was no strike by doctors,” he said.
However, Dr Ngwenya said the hospital was facing a
challenge of nurses who have decided to work for a few days per week citing
incapacitation.
“Nurses, through their union in Harare, have written to us
saying they will work two days per week because they do not have money to come
to work because of low salaries. This means those who report for duty have to
carry all the load. But I understand the Government is looking at that issue to
solve it as soon as possible, and I hope doctors and Government also find a
solution so that normalcy returns in hospitals across the country.”
The Clinical Director said Mpilo Hospital was a strategic
safety net institution which should be available to people all the time.
“What people have to understand is that Mpilo Hospital is
the biggest referral hospital in our region and even in the Sadc region. It
caters for people from Bulawayo, Masvingo, Midlands, Matabeleland South and
Matabeleland North provinces. We cannot interrupt such a vital service
provider. Imagine we have a nursing school, midwife training, training of
medical students from the National University of Science and Technology and
junior doctors. The strike by doctors has taken a long time to be resolved and
some hospitals are not functional at all, but at Mpilo we can’t do that. This
is a strategic institution in terms of safety nets for our people,” he said.
Nonetheless, when Sunday News visited the health facility
on Thursday morning, there were few patients in the casualty and outpatients
sections, who were being attended to by nurses.
“There are some people who were seen by nurses and have
since gone back to their homes, but I was advised to wait for a doctor. My son
is not feeling well and I fear I might lose him. I just have to be patient
until the doctor comes as nurses said. I have no other option, even if it means
waiting the whole day,” said Mrs Anna Ndlovu from Emakhandeni.
In other hospitals, specialised medical procedures have
been suspended, with patients being rebooked and advised to come back when the
strike by doctors has ended. Some patients in need of eye specialist attention
at Richard Morris at the United Bulawayo Hospitals were rebooked to as far as
January 2020.
Meanwhile, disciplinary hearings for striking doctors were
scheduled to start last Thursday, with the Health Services Board (HSB) set to
pass default judgments on those that absconded the process. The strike was declared illegal by the Labour
Court.
HSB board chairman Dr Paulinus Sikosana told our sister
paper, The Herald that in the event doctors snub the hearings, the Labour Act
provided for default judgments. The doctors went on strike on 3 September. Sunday
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