Category: News

THE Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) yesterday said the supplementary budget for the health sector, which Finance minister Mthuli Ncube announced on Thursday last week is still inadequate in the face of rising disease and mortality levels in the country.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
CWGH executive director Itai Rusike told NewsDay in an interview that despite Ncube’s strong expressions, during the budget presentation, placed on social priorities including health, the supplementary budget for health only had a nominal increase which did not match priorities in the sector.
Zimbabwe’s per capita health spending in 2019 is a measly $41 per person after Ncube allocated only $755 million towards health in the 2019 Budget, which has also been increased by a small margin in the July supplementary budget.
“We would like to know whether the Ministry of Finance has any guide in its allocations of a level of per capita funding of health services that constitutes the ‘bottom line’ in terms of the rights or needs of citizens,” Rusike said.
“The supplementary budget allocation for the health sector is inadequate in the face of rising disease and mortality levels,” he said.
Rusike said there has been a massive increase in the cost of essential drugs in the country as well as a drop in the ability to purchase drugs by low income people resulting in barriers to access to healthcare due to the high costs.
“These trends are exacerbated by government failing to sufficiently look into the cost of health services. The state of the health services — near collapse — is directly related to government misplacing its priorities in not allocating adequate resources to the health sector,” he said.
The CWGH said government should start making health delivery a top priority if it is to save its health institutions from imminent collapse.
“We only hope that the Ministry of Health and Child Care will manage the additional funds allocated to them as efficiently and effectively as possible in order to maintain good health standards in the face of collapsing health services,” he said.
During his 2019 supplementary budget statement, Ncube said among some of the things that government will do for the health sector is to acquire 100 fully equipped ambulances.
“The Ministry of Health and Child Care has completed the tendering process for procurement of ambulances, and in this regard an amount of $68 million in additional funding is proposed to complete the procurement process that targets acquisition of 100 fully equipped ambulances,” Ncube said.
He also said to strengthen the referral health system, government was rehabilitating and upgrading health infrastructure as well as constructing rural health posts.
“With regards to central hospitals, refurbishment works for the medical gas reticulation system, theatres and incinerators at Mpilo and United Bulawayo Hospitals, have been completed. Following a fire outbreak which affected Mbuya Nehanda Maternity Hospital at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in February 2019, refurbishment of wards and installation of new theatre equipment has been completed and the hospital is now fully operational,” Ncube said.

 

newsday - August 5, 2019

Government is expected to appoint a board of directors for the National Aids Council (NAC) within the next month, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo has said.
The previous board was dissolved in March this year.
Once a new one has been appointed, it will then appoint a substantive chief executive to replace the long serving Dr Tapuwa Magure who left in December last year.
Responding to questions from stakeholders who felt the NAC board was taking long to be reconstituted, Dr Moyo said Government was following due procedure in the appointment of board members.
“We are working flat out to ensure that the board is well represented through following stipulated procedures,” he said.
“We anticipate that the board would be fully constituted for appointment within the next month.”
Since the departure of Dr Magure, NAC has so far seen two directors taking up the CEO role in acting capacities.
Pressure groups continue to advocate for the quick appointment of both the board and the CEO, arguing that lack of leadership at such levels impedes efficiency and effectiveness in resource allocation and usage.
The Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) is the latest organisation to call for a speedy reconstitution of the NAC board.
A number of other organisations, including those representing people living with HIV and Aids, petitioned Parliament earlier this month with the same concern.
CWGH executive director Mr Itai Rusike said NAC appeared to be failing to execute its mandate of late, as evidenced by a number of allegations, including misuse of public funds, maladministration, corruption and nepotism.
People on treatment are also reportedly battling to access enough drugs.
“The minister needs to urgently appoint board members and a substantive CEO for this organisation to make sure that it functions normally and makes important policy decisions that address the current burden of disease, integration of care and enable the country to attain developmental and universal health coverage goals,” said Mr   Rusike.
He said apart from reconstitution of the board, NAC must also provide a comprehensive review of its work, 20 years on.
Mr Rusike said the Aids Levy was a public purse, which must always be accounted for.
NAC is an organisation that came into being through an Act of Parliament in 1999 to coordinate and facilitate the national multi-sectoral response to HIV and Aids.

Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter

STAKEHOLDERS have scaled up calls on the Health minister Obadiah Moyo and Health Services Board (HSB) to urgently reconstitute the National Aids Council (NAC) board and appoint a substantive chief executive officer (CEO) to ensure smooth running of the organisation which has been dogged by allegations of maladministration, abuse of office and corruption.
The previous board was dissolved almost four months ago and at the time the Health minister in a letter said the board had been improperly appointed and that President Emmerson Mnangagwa had concurred to its dissolution.
However, no substantive appointments have been made, with Moyo recently saying they were following due process and that within a month, these appointments would have been made.
Agitated HIV activists are disgruntled and dissatisfied at the dragging process. The ZNNP+ Harare province advocacy chairperson Charles Kautare said the board was needed to make sound and coherent decisions. “The delay impacts negatively upon its service delivery mandates, bearing in mind that almost 100 000 people living with HIV and Aids are on second line treatment and are facing severe shortages of drugs,” he said.

Kautare also said given the prevailing situation, it would be difficult to meet the targeted 2030 mark of ending the devastating effects of the disease.
Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) director Itai Rusike also weighed in, saying the reconstitution of the board was critical since NAC, as an organisation, manages public funds (Aids Levy) and plays a pivotal role in the country’s HIV and Aids response. “The Honourable Minister needs to urgently appoint board members and a substantive chief executive officer for this organisation to make sure that NAC functions normally and makes important policy decisions that address the current burden of disease, integration of care and enable the country to attain developmental and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals,” he said.
Rusike said they felt strongly that the appointment of the CEO had taken too long considering the critical role that NAC plays in providing measures to combat the spread of HIV as well as management, co-ordination and implementation programmes that reduce the impact of HIV and Aids in the country.
“We disapprove the current ad-hoc and reactive appointments being done at NAC, an important organisation that holds keys to millions of lives that cannot do without its services,” he said.
“This points to serious management and governance shortcomings, and we strongly feel this runs contrary to the new dispensation’s thrust of health for development. We cannot allow such an important institution to operate on auto-pilot.”
The CWGH also made an urgent appeal for the reconstitution of other strategic and key governance institutions such as the Public Health Advisory Board, the National Cancer Forum and in addition set up a forum that looks at UHC.

 

©newsday - July 23, 2019  PHYLLIS MBANJE

ZIMBABWE should draw serious lessons from other countries who have successfully implemented national health insurance schemes that cater comprehensively for every citizen to ensure the attainment of universal health coverage (UHC), stakeholders have said.
High cost of medicines compounded by persistent industrial action by health workers has made it virtually impossible for ordinary citizens to access basic health care.
The call came as most health insurance providers have indicated that they will, from July 1, hike their fees by between 40% and 80% to cushion their businesses against inflation.
“In the absence of a national safety net coupled with the current prohibitive cost of health care services, it is imperative that Zimbabwe sets up a UHC, where
all people receive quality and essential health services when they need them including services designed to promote better health, prevent illness, and to provide treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care of sufficient quality, while at the same time ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship,” Community Working Group on Health executive director Itai Rusike said.
Last month, Health minister Obadiah Moyo told the Parliamentary Thematic Committee on HIV and Aids that government was in the process of crafting a National Health Insurance Bill.
“This law will also control medical aid societies so that they do not just do what they want, so this Bill will ensure that they do not become service
providers,” Moyo said.
The health policy, which is expected to be operational by January next year, has been on the drawing board for the past 15 years.
The cost of health care in Zimbabwe remains one of the highest in the region and over the years, has denied many people access to quality medical care.
Most private health institutions are now demanding payment in hard currency or the parallel market equivalent in bond notes or RTGS dollar payments.
Meanwhile, medical aid providers have also been challenged to come up with schemes for the lower income bracket as many low-income earners are battling with
shortfalls and co-payments, which can be prohibitive given the current economic situation.

June 22, 2019 By Phyllis Mbanje

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

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.

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

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

 

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