"Hospitals, Clinics Now Manned By Student Nurses, Junior Doctors," - Doctors Without Borders

Médecins Sans Frontières Zimbabwe (Doctors Without Borders) have said the situation in the Zimbabwean health system is now very dire due to a number of issues including neglection of the sector.

Reinaldo Ortuno, head of mission at Médecins Sans Frontières Zimbabwe says neglection of the sector resulted in the skilled and qualified workforce going abroad for greener pastures. Resultantly, Ortuno says:

Hospitals and clinics are now manned by student nurses, junior doctors, and other staff who have no choice as they are still under training. This has compromised quality of care and has inadvertently contributed to high morbidity and mortality rates

Tawanda Chivese, a Zimbabwean clinical epidemiologist at Stellenbosch University Medical School (Stellenbosch, South Africa) says the collapse of the healthcare system did not start recently with the new government but has been an ongoing issue with past administrations.

He attributes the rot to underfunding of the healthcare system and to a lack of leadership.

As a result of a number of issues in public health institutions including poor salaries and working environment, insufficiency of medical equipment and medicines, health care workers have been leaving their jobs while some have embarked on a crippling industrial action.

More: New Zimbabwe