ZIMBABWE’S 1 500 doctors working at public health
institutions are exposed to the killer coronavirus after government failed to
provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and have sued to force authorities
to act, NewsDay has learnt.
The doctors have also expressed alarm at the low levels of
testing in the country after thousands of people from COVID-19-infected
countries came into the country without being tested.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights
(ZADHR) yesterday filed an urgent High Court application to force government to
issue PPEs to the frontline defenders against COVID-19.
The frontline health workers cited in the suit include
doctors, police officers, soldiers, municipal workers manning roadblocks and
Zupco drivers, who are at great risk of contracting and spreading the disease.
“Some of the health workers reside in communities where
they share accommodation with other citizens. We cannot account for the
activities of those whom they share premises with and their contacts and there
is risk of contracting the virus from the nature of their accommodation
facilities given that there is no rapid testing, screening or treatment of
symptomatic cases,” the lawsuit reads.
In their submissions, the doctors said the essential
services workers with whom they shared public transport were not subjected to
tests and screening, exposing them to possible infection.
ZADHR demanded PPEs for health workers up to district level
hospitals, saying if urgent steps are not taken, many lives would be lost.
The doctors cited the Health, Finance and Transport
ministries as respondents.
In consulting with patients exhibiting and some not
exhibiting signs and symptoms of the virus, the doctors said they were
vulnerable and that they also were duty-bound to treat even positive cases.
They argued that on their way to and from work, the health
workers share the same Zupco transport with other civil service officials,
including the drivers, who are not subjected to any testing and screening,
leaving them vulnerable.
“Policemen, soldiers and municipal workers who are manning
roadblocks are at great risk of contracting the coronavirus. They are barely
equipped with sufficient protective clothing to minimise their risk of exposure
and at the conclusion of their duties, they then use the same public transport,
thereby putting health workers in contact with the virus,” the doctors
submitted.
There are 1 500 doctors working in public institutions
across the country without PPEs, the doctors said.
Specialists, nurse aides, technicians, pharmacists and
other health practitioners bear the brunt of the pandemic since they are
vulnerable.
“Reports in the public domain suggest that in Italy, as at
March 18, 2020, at least 2 629 health workers had been infected by coronavirus
since the onset of the outbreak in February, representing 8,3% of total cases,”
the submission read.
“There are dire shortages of appropriate well-equipped
hospitals with ventilators, oxygen tanks, Hazmat suits, N95 masks and properly
manned quarantine and isolation facilities in the country. Every district
hospital must have such facilities, but currently, those facilities are in
Harare and Bulawayo, leaving citizens outside these centres at risk of failing
to access health care.”
Each of the doctors requires an average of three face masks
per day, translating to 4 500 daily, but at the moment, government has
considered it a luxury despite the crucial nature of the equipment.
“There are no adequate testing kits for both public and frontline
health practitioners. Fewer people are being tested. 13 days after the first
case, only 316 persons have been tested across the country. This is despite the
fact that 107 Zimbabweans who had travelled to Tanzania returned. At least 13
000 Zimbabweans from South Africa returned, but they have not been isolated or
quarantined,” the frontline health workers said.
The doctors demanded that during the 21-day lockdown
period, the government be ordered to ensure that adequate measures be put in
place to close the airspace, to provide ventilators, masks and PPEs to all
hospitals in the country and to establish more Level 3 laboratories to test
infectious diseases such as COVID-19.
The cited respondents were yet to respond to the summons.
Globally, there were 1 312 494 confirmed coronavirus cases
and 72 636 deaths as at 7pm last night.
Zimbabwe has one death and nice confirmed cases, according
to the Health ministry.
Meanwhile, United Nations secretary-general António
Guterres has commended health workers who are risking their lives at the
frontline of the COVID-19 in commemoration of the World Health Day.
“My message today is to our healthcare workers — the
nurses, midwives, technicians, paramedics, pharmacists, doctors, drivers,
cleaners, administrators and many others — who work, day and night to keep us
safe,” he said.
“Today, we are more deeply grateful than ever to all of
you, as you work, round the clock, putting yourselves at risk, to fight the
ravages of this pandemic.
“2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and the
Midwife, and I want to recognise their specific expertise and commitment.”
Guterres said nurses shoulder some of the biggest
healthcare burdens, adding midwives’ work was even more challenging during this
period.
“In these traumatic times, I say to all healthcare workers:
we stand with you and we count on you … We are indebted to you,” he said.
Newsday
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