PARLIAMENT has called for an urgent investigation into the
purchase of a consignment of US$900 000 hospital equipment after doctors at
Mpilo Central and United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) complained that up to 80
percent of it was obsolete, with missing parts.
The equipment was allegedly purchased from Narula Exports
of New Delhi, which is not known as a manufacturer of medical equipment.
Doctors said it was miraculous that patients were not dying
in large numbers as they could not treat them without proper machinery.
The parliamentary portfolio committee on health while
touring Bulawayo hospital on Friday said more investigations should be launched
into the deal which saw ministry of health officials procuring ‘obsolete’
refurbished 2006 models for various medical purposes.
Most of the machinery is said to be so old it cannot be
used and some of it has gone out of production such that spares cannot be
secured.
The scandal was initially exposed by the Senior Hospital
Doctors’ Association (SHDA) representatives, Shingai Nyaguse (president),
Raphael Makota (vice-president), Aaron Musara (secretary-general), Bothwell
Anesu Mbuwayesango and Nomaqhawe Moyo who are all specialist doctors at a
parliamentary portfolio committee on health meeting in Parliament in January.
However, doctors said nothing had been done to this day.
Doctors at two of the country’s biggest public health
referral institutions in the country, on Thursday told the Dr Ruth Labode-led
committee that the condemned consignment included theatre equipment,
incubators, ventilators and beds that can only sustain weights of “light”
people, below 65kgs.
Most adults in the country weigh more than 75kg. At Mpilo Central Hospital it was estimated that about 80
percent of the equipment was non-functional.
Giving oral evidence to the parliamentary committee at
Mpilo Central Hospital, one of the surgeons who was assigned to receive the
equipment from Harare, Mr Allan Ngulube, said the equipment was obsolete.
He said even companies that manufacturethe equipment were
no longer manufacturing the spares for the machines as they areoutdated.
“I was not part of the procurement team but was just asked
to go and receive it. So as young surgeons we have been here for some years and
have not been operating because there are no anaesthetic machines basically
there is a lot of missing equipment,” he said.
“Imagine our disappointment when we opened the equipment here
and it was set up to try and use it lo and behold, they were a lot of missing
parts. So, we couldn’t use it. It was not the latest in terms of the brands. As
a hospital that had nothing, we said half a loaf is better than nothing at all.
But even the half loaf is not usable at all. So, the equipment isstored in a
storeroom somewhere because it has missing parts.”
Mr Ngulube said there was confusion as the Indian
technicians came to set up the equipment and they failed to assemble it as
well.
At the United Bulawayo Hospitals, UBH CEO Ms Nonhlanhla
Ndlovu said 62 percent of the hospital’s equipment was dysfunctional.
Part of the non-functioning equipment includes adult
ventilators, an electric theatre table which cannot be adjusted, hydraulic
theatre tables which have no foot pedals to adjust the tables,
electroencephalography machines which could not be assembled as they had
missing parts, three incubators which need spare parts, seven continuous
positive airway pressure machines which came with missing parts,
colonoscopy/gastroscopy machines which have poor image quality, and came with
no manual and with control buttons written in Japanese.
The Committee said a proper investigation must be done on
what happened that led to the procurement of “archaic” medical equipment.
“Someone must be held accountable for the loss. You cannot
have the president donating funds for purchase of vital medical equipment, and
then somebody goes to buy used and archaic equipment. You also cannot afford to
have a situation where it is just talked about without action.
“Someone must own up to it, there needs to be clarity on
what happened. Someone cannot fly to India on taxpayers’ money to bring this,”
said Dr Labode.
One of the specialist doctors who spoke at the meeting said
doctors were not consulted when the “irrelevant” equipment was bought.
“We were never involved in the procurement process and were
not even consulted. We know what is vital in hospitals as we work there every
day. We know what we can do without and we know what a hospital needs to
prioritise.
“But here we have someone going to buy equipment as if they
are furnishing a museum, collecting antiques for all archaic materials.
“These things, even the 38 percent that is working, when
they break down it will be difficult to fix them because manufacturers are
making modern machines and these lines of production stopped in 2006, where
would you get the spares 15 years after a product line was discontinued,” said
one of the specialist doctors at UBH during the meeting.
The senior doctors also told Parliament that intensive care
units at the country’s referral hospitals were in dire straits.
Deputy Minister of health and Child care, Dr John Mangwiro
recently confirmed the procurement of obsolete equipment in parliament but
however, defended the purchase saying the Indian technicians are to return to
Zimbabwe with the ‘correct’ equipment during the course of this year and will
operate the machines.
Mpilo Central Hospital and UBH serve the southern region
which covers Bulawayo, Midlands, Masvingo, Matabeleland North and South.
Chronicle
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