Govt urged to support local pharmaceutical companies

THE Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) has implored Government to prioritise the capacitation of pharmaceutical companies to ease obtaining shortages of drugs in the country.
Speaking to The Herald, CWGH executive director Mr Itai Rusike said while Government policies on drugs were very robust, there was an urgent need for it to avail foreign currency to capacitate local drug manufacturers.
“CWGH appreciates Government policies on essential drugs and equity in health which have over the years widened access to treatment,” he said.
“However, it is evidently clear that hospitals and clinics are facing critical shortage of drugs. It is our view that Government needs to inject foreign currency into local pharmaceutical companies which include; Caps, Datlabs and Varichem, among others to enhance their drug production capacity.
“At the same time we are saying there is need for a deliberate intervention to control drug prices, which continue sky-rocketing and are currently burdening consumers countrywide.
“For instance as an organisation, we have been monitoring issues to do with leakages, thefts, improper use of drugs in the health sector and submitting reports to Government for further action.”
Mr Rusike said his organisation was rolling out a number of community health literacy programmes on the use of drugs.
He encouraged Government to promote whistle-blowing in the health sector to curb artificial shortages of drugs in health institutions.
“Further, it is also our humble view that essential drugs must be ranked with energy and fuel as priority claimants of foreign currency,” said Mr Rusike.

Masvingo Correspondent

Cyclone Idai survivors get major assistance from CWGH

Byron Adonis MutingwendeMay 04, 2019, 05:20 am
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) in partnership with Medico International has procured some materials for relief and aid to affected communities in Chimanimani.
Speaking while handing over the substantive donation of items worth US$50 000 to the organisation’s management committee in Harare on 3 May 2019, Itai Rusike, the Executive Director of CWGH, said the gesture was in line with their mandate since their institution is deeply rooted in the community.
“As CWGH, we are a network of national, civil society and community participation in Zimbabwe. The organisation is deeply rooted in the community and thus awarding the community the opportunity to be visible and engage in public health sector processes in Zimbabwe,” Rusike said.
The Chairperson of CWGH, Delphine Chirimuuta, said her organisation embarked on the partnership with Medico International so as to play its part in improving the welfare of the survivors of Cyclone Idai in Chipinge and Chimanimani whose livelihoods were shattered following the disaster.
The items to be distributed to the affected areas include food, kitchenware and toiletries.
Kitchenware will go a long way to ensuring that mothers are able to prepare decent meals for their families, particularly children.
Mr. Rusike said CWGH works with community health workers hence the need to support them with food since they have volunteered to assist in the affected areas.
“For the prevention of diseases, we will provide mosquito nets, hand wash and water guard. A target of 100 households in the affected areas of Chimanimani district, will receive these items, focusing mainly on vulnerable members of society such as women and orphans. The CWGH Chimanimani chapter will play a role in the distribution which is going to be done in partnership with the Manicaland Provincial Administration and Civil Protection Unite and the Ministry of Health and Child Care in order to give priority to the needy,” Mr Rusike said.
To guard against looting of the items and distribution of the donation on partisan lines, Mr. Rusike dedicated his time to be on the ground himself.
Each of the identified 100 households will get a carton of Mazoe Orang Crush drink, carton of sugar beans, carton of kapenta fish, carton of soya means, carton of cooking oil, carton of sugar and carton of salt.
They will also receive toiletries including bathing and washing soap, sanitary pads, petroleum jelly, hand towels, hand washing liquids, toothpaste and toothbrushes.
Each of the households will receive 20 litre buckets to fetch and store water, a set of plates, cups and pots, serving and cooking spoons, steel knives, table and tea spoons, as well as three mosquito nets per household and three solar lamps per household.

Cyclone aftermath: Health ministry to float RTGS$ tender for drugs

HEALTH minister Obadiah Moyo on Thursday assured Senate that his ministry was prepared to avert any health calamities that may face Cyclone Idai victims, adding that his ministry will soon float a real time gross settlement dollar (RTGS) tender for supply of medicines to assist the affected communities.
“We have been allocated money by the Finance ministry to be able to purchase medicines and have had many well-wishers who have donated medicines which have been shipped to disaster areas,” Moyo said without specifying how much he was allocated by the Finance ministry.
When Cyclone Idai hit Manicaland and other parts of the country, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube allocated $50 million to fund relief efforts.
“We have medical kits available that contain all medicines including aqua tablets for water treatment because we do not want to end up with epidemics, and we have floated a tender for medicines and this is a tender which is going to be awarded on a RTGS$ basis because there are companies in Zimbabwe that can ensure we get more medicines in disaster-hit areas,” he said.
Moyo said the health concerns from Cyclone Idai-hit areas were those of children that had been affected by parasites.
“Immediately we sent de-worming medicines and we have been making all necessary arrangements so that we do not have another catastrophe in the affected areas,” he said.
Calling for more volunteer counsellors to help people who have been traumatised, the minister also said: “On the issue of dead bodies, it is now easier with the team of sniffer dogs from South Africa. Most of the bodies will be decomposed and will be difficult to identify. There will be need for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing and there are two teams of scientists from the National University of Science and Technology and our pathology department to assist in identifying the bodies.”
Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said there was also need for mosquito spraying in the cyclone-hit areas to avert malaria, in addition to dealing with waterborne diseases.
Rusike said people with chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, cancer, asthma, and HIV and Aids will also need urgent support so that they do not miss their treatment and risk developing complications.
“Such groups have difficulty taking medication when they do not have adequate food to eat. While much attention is focused on the devastating impact of the cyclone, there is also need to distribute items such as bed nets and resources for spraying to prevent malaria outbreak in the affected areas,” Rusike said.

newsday - April 1, 2019 BY VENERANDA LANGA

Horror tales of rot in public hospitals

THE untenable situation prevailing at public hospitals continues to unfold with reports that post-theatre patients have to bear immense pain in the absence of painkillers, while pathologists at times failed to perform autopsies because of the shortage of gloves.
Relatives have had to endure, not only the grief of losing their loved ones, but the long wait for the autopsies to be done.
Facilities like Harare Central Hospital have no ventilators which are used in the intensive care unit (ICU) to assist people in breathing when they are unable to do so or during operations.
According to senior doctors, an 18-year-old girl whose tummy was full of puss recently died when she could not be operated on at the hospital because there was no ventilator and efforts to transfer her to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals were futile because the institution had no space for her.
Gynaecological oncologist Bothwell Guzha on Wednesday told Health minister Obadiah Moyo during a protest staged by the senior doctors at Parirenyatwa that her death was a sad reminder of how ill-equipped the hospitals were.
“I couldn’t have the patient here because all four ICU beds were occupied, the girl demised. I also lost another 18-year-old girl who had cancer of the ovary. She stayed in hospital for five weeks I could not get theatre time and an ICU bed to operate on that young girl. She died,” Guzha said brokenly.
“I work in the gynaecological cancer unit; we do not have cancer drugs. They are coming to the tertiary institution to be treated, they go away and I don’t know where they are going. They are just going home to die.”
Guzha said he feels helpless when he examines patients and makes a diagnosis, but cannot proceed with further tests because the patients have no money for the mandatory fees.
“I see patients in the gynae out-patients. I do an examination as I am trained to do and I see a lesion there I can do a biopsy because the patient has to go and pay $25 and the patient does not have the money so they go home and come back after three months,” he said.
Guzha charged that the hospital is being run like a district hospital. He also complained about the few nurses available to care for the admitted patients.
“The government allowed nurses to work for three days. (One day) I went to the ward after an operation and I realised that three of my patients had received a single pain injection and I asked the sister why this patient had not been given and they told me that there were only two nurses that were attending to 45 patients,” he said.
“The situation is not workable. We are now sick and tired of these two-week solutions.”
Harare Central Hospital acting chief executive officer Christopher Pasi said they had been experiencing challenges with their ventilators.
“We had challenges for a week or so, but now we have managed to get two to function and expect more to be resuscitated,” Pasi said.
Following these revelations by senior doctors, health stakeholders and ordinary Zimbabweans have reacted angrily to the rot in the public hospitals.
International cricketer and former Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor tweeted, saying his employee had lost his new-born baby who was only three days old.
In an impassioned statement, Taylor said lack of resources at public health facilities was costing lives.
“Let us get out priorities right for goodness sake. I sincerely hope Dr Mashumba (head of paeds department, who broke down while giving an account on how babies were dying) is rewarded,” he said.
Community Working Group on Health director Itai Rusike said health sector financing should be revisited.
“If the country’s National Budget cannot adequately fund health, then there is need to find other innovative health financing strategies to domestically fund this important sector. This brings us to the issue of the health levy, which must be used to purchase medicines and sundries for the smooth running of the country’s health sector,” Rusike said.
“If there are no drugs, equipment and sundries in hospitals; where is the money collected under the health levy going? This fund must be used correctly, transparently and for its intended purpose.”

 

newsday - March 15, 2019 BY PHYLLIS MBANJE

Need for holistic response to Idai

LUCKY TO BE ALIVE . . . It is a fact that survivors of Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge are facing a public health crisis of considerable proportions

 

The loss of lives, displacement of people, loss of livestock and crops, destruction of property and infrastructure following heavy rains and flooding caused by the recent Cyclone Idai that ravaged mainly Chimanimani, Chipinge, Bikita and Chikomba districts in Zimbabwe is a sad chapter for the nation.

The fierce and devastating storm has left in its wake a still unknown death toll as some areas are still inaccessible — the death toll is rising. It left survivors with broken limbs who need immediate medical attention, food, housing and clean water. The cyclone also affected some parts of neighbouring Mozambique and Malawi.

The fate and survival of the victims now solely depend on how the Government, friendly nations, UN agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) and individuals mobilise resources to placate them from their current predicament.

It is a fact that people in the affected areas are facing a public health crisis of considerable proportions.

The public health facilities destroyed by Cyclone Idai have been a buffer between people and the impoverishing and fatal impacts of ill health caused by such conditions. The massive destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure is thus a major crisis for poor people in the affected communities, and leaves people starkly exposed to severe health risk, including water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

Admittedly, the impact of the cyclone is much disastrous in the context of the current shortages of medicines, obsolete equipment as well as shortages of doctors and nurses. The alarming death toll from Cyclone Idai is a warning of wider risks to health and of wider failures to manage such natural disasters.

People with chronic diseases and conditions such diabetes, cancer, asthma and HIV/AIDS will need urgent support so that they do not miss their treatment and risk developing complications. Such groups have difficulty taking medications when they do not have adequate food to eat.

Hopefully, the public health community and the Government will respond to this not only as an emergency response to the cyclone, but with a public health response and measure to rescue the public sector health system, especially the primary health care and services.

While much attention is focused on the devastating impact of the cyclone, there is also need to distribute items such as bed nets and resources for spraying to prevent malaria outbreak in the affected areas.  The local clinics also need drugs for malaria treatment so that the sick can also be treated in time. Distribution of aqua tablets to safeguard victims from water-borne diseases as most of the clean sources of water were destroyed or washed away.

In these painful circumstances, Government should urgently craft and implement a holistic humanitarian response that benefits all affected citizens regardless of race, colour, creed, gender, age or political affiliation.

The current Government intervention efforts are welcome. However, Government should intervene in a way that addresses wider public health crisis, including in the public sector health system as well as involving communities and health civil society in their planning. It should be noted that some NGOs such as CWGH have long experience and networks at community level of people with abilities to organise and support primary health care, even under harsh conditions.

The importance of national disaster preparedness and mitigation especially considering that Zimbabwe suffered another heavy loss in 2000, when the country was hit by Cyclone Eline, cannot be overlooked.

The issue of preparedness also requires the Government to capacitate fully the Department of Civil Protection Unit to ensure that when disasters like these strike, it can respond and save lives.

It is clear that many lives could have been saved had the authorities taken the Cyclone Idai warnings seriously and evacuated people from the affected areas. Very little was said on national radio, television or newspapers about the cyclone to the effect that most families were caught unawares.

CWGH, as an organisation deeply rooted in the communities, expresses its solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe will work with all stakeholders at all levels to assist the victims of the disaster both in the short and long term.

Itai Rusike is the Executive Director of the the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), a network of national membership based civil society and community based organisations who aim to collectively enhance community participation in health in Zimbabwe.

The Herald  29 Mar, 2019 Itai Rusike Correspondent

Desperate patients overwhelm public hospitals

The country’s public health facilities are experiencing an upsurge in the number of patients, posing serious challenges to quality service delivery with admitted patients now being housed in physician bays while others are spending hours queuing in corridors.
This follows a dramatic increase in medical fees in private practice as well as medical aid contributions. In the past few months, most medical aid insurers upped their monthly charges, making it impossible for the majority of citizens to continue using medical aid facilities.
The increases were brought about by the general rise in the cost of health services that the country has been experiencing. Drug and sundry costs have trebled, while hospital fees have increased by at least 100%.
Pharmacists, who have not been getting adequate foreign currency, are now demanding payment in hard currency. Medical aid schemes upped their contribution rates to stay afloat.
First Mutual wrote to its clients informing them that it was hiking contribution rates by 35%.
“Scheme has been absorbing the costs while continuing to engage service providers in an effort to find a viable solution. However, we have noted that our members still face challenges with card acceptance and shortfalls,” the company said.
Cimas raised its members’ contribution rates by between 20 to 30% from February.
Many patients are now opting for public hospitals which are cheaper, but under-equipped.
During a recent visit by NewsDay to some public hospitals like Harare Central, Parirenyatwa and Chitungwiza, the wards were packed.
Relatives of patients at Harare Hospital said they were not amused by the fact that government was not paying attention to public health institutions which needed serious expansion to accommodate the rising number of patients.
One of the oldest referral hospitals, Harare has struggled with overcrowding for years.
Parirenyatwa Hospital, which has also been swamped by patients who can no longer afford medical care elsewhere, has been experiencing financial challenges.
Parirenyatwa Hospital spokesperson Lenos Dhire said they were receiving an unusually high number of patients at the institution.
“We confirm that we are experiencing an upsurge of patients presenting to the hospital. Although the situation is posing some challenges, our physicians and nurses are doing everything possible within their capacity to ensure that all the patients receive treatment,” Dhire said.
On Monday, Chitungwiza Hospital spokesperson Audrey Tasaranarwa said all wards were full.
Health stakeholders have implored government to address the underlying causes of the sudden influx of patients.
“Medical aid patients cannot afford the services being charged, which can be as high as US$150 for one night admission. Those on medical aid will be told that your funds have been exhausted and to top up in US,” Fungisayi Dube of the Citizens Health Watch, said.
She added that these challenges show the need for a relook at issues such as health financing which would make it possible to build another hospital.
Community Working Group on Health director Itai Rusike said the facilities were overburdened mainly because of the poor referral system since the two metropolitan provinces do not have district and provincial hospitals, forcing patients to come there instead.
“This calls for the revival of the debate on setting up a national health insurance scheme. We can learn something about sustainable health financing schemes from countries like Rwanda.

newsday - March 12, 2019     BY PHYLLIS MBANJE