But speaking to the
Daily News yesterday, the highly regarded acting chief executive of Mpilo
Hospital brushed aside the trolls, saying the attacks on him were like “water
off a duck’s back”.
The forthright doctor also surmised that the attacks were
being led by groups of people who might be benefitting from the soaring
coronavirus deaths in the country.
Although Ngwenya specialises in gynaecology, he has been
effective in using social media to warn people about the dangers of letting
down their guard on coronavirus — with his critics accusing him of being
“alarmist”. “I have been warning people against Covid-19, but some people
attack me because of their narrow-minded business interests and
society-sponsored thinking.
“People can attack you for many reasons, including
jealousy, race, tribe and so forth. Then you have interested people who want
Covid-19 to spread so that they can benefit from it, for example, people who
run tenders … Covid-19 tests and so forth.
“Then there is a third group of people who will want
Zimbabwe as a whole to fail, working with outside forces who want people to die
in large numbers,” Ngwenya told the Daily News yesterday.
However, he warned, even those who were attacking him and
capitalising on the raging pandemic were also as much at risk of dying from the
virulent respiratory disease like everyone else.
“I am just motivated by wanting to prevent Zimbabweans from
dying en masse. If I and others who should speak decide to keep silent people
will die. “I have to make noise so that authorities and the population are made
aware and make informed decisions. Whether they listen to me or not, Covid-19
is a serious disease. I will not keep quiet,” he added.
This comes as the second wave coronavirus drumfire has
deepened since the turn of the New Year, with the global pandemic’s local death
toll now having passed the 1 000 mark. It also comes as the deadly virus has so
far claimed the lives of four government ministers, with more said to be
bed-ridden in hospitals.
Such has been the devastating effect of the virus that the
country’s major hospitals are now struggling to deal with the high numbers of
patients battling the deadly respiratory disease, who require admission. In
addition to being unable to take more patients, stretched private hospitals are
also charging hefty fees which are beyond the reach of the majority — with some
of them demanding anything between US$1 500 and US$10 000 upfront for
admissions only. Daily News
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