ZIMBABWE’s largest referral centre for COVID-19 cases,
Wilkins Hospital in Harare, was shut down yesterday to “allow for further
renovations”, but medical staff at the health institution said the closure was
triggered by doctors who downed tools to press for the provision of protective
clothing.
“We have made a resolution that we will not go to work
without protective clothing, putting our lives at risk,” a medical staffer who
spoke to NewsDay on condition of anonymity said.
But city health services director Prosper Chonzi said the
facility had temporarily shut down to allow for further renovations to ensure
it met international standards.
“The Chinese are still working on the renovations and so we
have moved to Nazareth (Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital). Wilkins is
still being renovated and will remain shut until the process is complete,” he
said.
Chonzi added that screening of patients for the coronavirus
was still being done at Wilkins Hospital, but nurses at the medical centre
refuted the claim, saying all staff had deserted the centre.
This came amid reports that all protective clothing used at
the hospital was supplied by Harare City Council, while the Chinese embassy was
bankrolling the renovations as government was yet to deposit the promised $100
000 into the local authority’s account to upgrade the hospital.
The health centre came under the spotlight early this week
after the family of journalist Zororo Makamba, who succumbed to coronavirus, on
Monday described it as a death trap.
Chonzi said the third confirmed case, a 57-year-old man
who, according to the Health ministry had travelled to Dubai and came back on
March 15, had been transferred to Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital.
But in its post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, government
said the third confirmed case was that of a person who was in contact with the
late journalist Zororo Makamba.
It did not mention the 57-year-old who had travelled to
Dubai.
Senior doctors and nurses at most public health
institutions yesterday vowed that they would not report for duty without
appropriate clothing and equipment.
Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (Zhda) president
Tawanda Zvakada said the move was meant to force government to provide them
with protective wear to attend to suspected coronavirus cases without
endangering themselves.
Many doctors internationally have died of coronavirus while
in the line of duty, including 4 800 health workers who were infected by
COVID-19 in Italy.
Zvakada alleged that some private hospitals were being
fully equipped at the expense of public institutions and called for all
hospitals to be treated equally for them to fight the pandemic.
“We are just basically saying we are not on strike, but it
is a call for action to tell the government that we need to be protected first
before we can attend to suspected COVID-19 cases, the pandemic which has caused
havoc worldwide,” he said.
“When the protective clothing has been availed to us all,
that is when we are able to say we are now ready. There is a difference between
heroism and suicide and we need to be protected. Going in there without any
protection will be like committing suicide. So temporarily, we have withdrawn
our services.”
Health permanent secretary Agnes Mahomva said it was the
ministry’s priority at the moment to provide protective gear at all
institutions.
In Bulawayo, Mpilo Central Hospital was yesterday operating
with student nurses and doctors with no protective clothing.
Mpilo spokesperson Osiers Ndlovu confirmed the situation
yesterday, saying they feared risking student nurses and doctors lives since
there was no protective clothing for them.
“Currently, I do not have the figures, but most of the
doctors and nurses as from Wednesday have not reported for duty. Their issues
were not addressed, so they decided to withdraw their labour. As we are
speaking, student nurses are the ones who are manning the institution and a few
other qualified nurses who did not join in the withdrawal of labour,” Ndlovu
said.
Mpilo chief executive officer Leonard Mabhandi said the
hospital was yet to receive medical kits from the ministry, but was expecting
to get them soon.
Government this week received a consignment of protective
wear and testing kits from Chinese businessman, Jack Ma.
Meanwhile, an Epworth man with a history of travelling to
Durban and exhibiting flu-like symptoms spent the better part of yesterday at
Overspill Clinic in the dormitory town, with medical staff refusing to attend
to him saying they had no protective clothing.
Epworth Local Board chairman councillor Batanai Masunda
said the man in question was brought to the clinic in the morning, but was left
unattended to for the whole day as medical staff said they did not have the
required equipment.
“The patient has been lying around since he came to the
clinic around 8am and no one attended to him. The staff said they were
incapacitated and did not have protective clothing,” he said.
“They (medical staff) say they have no protective clothing
and they are negotiating with Marondera to see if he can be transferred there.”
Masunda said a senior doctor at Wilkins Hospital also
refused to attend to him, saying the medical staff could not deal with the
matter without protective clothing, confirming that the country’s biggest
isolation centre had temporarily shut down due to lack of protective clothing. Newsday
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