Health and Childcare Deputy Minister Sleiman Kwidini accused hospital staff of deliberately sabotaging hospital machinery to force repairs, allowing them to work at private hospitals for extra cash.
Kwidini made these remarks during a tour of the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) last week. He also announced that the government plans to reintroduce locum in all public hospitals to motivate health workers to stay in the public sector. He said:
<blockquote>
Some of the problems that we see in hospitals, such as mechanical faults are caused by our people because they would want to ground the systems in the institutions and to go and practice in the private sector where they can get more money.
I have seen our chemistry machines in labs and most of them have technical faults and these technical faults are not the manufacturers’ problem or the age but it is because of our people who are working on those machines.
They are creating those faults so that they can take these specimens to the private where they practise as locum practitioners.
</blockquote>
UBH Chief Medical Officer William Busuman urged the government to implement measures that will attract doctors to work in public institutions. Said Busuman (via <a href="https://newsday.co.zw/southerneye/local/article/200038725/govt-to-reintroduce-locum-in-public-hospitals-kwidini">Southern Eye</a>):
<blockquote>
We want the government to reintroduce issues to do with locum for health practitioners so that they come back to public hospitals.
If we have the locum funds or on-call funds, there will not be any workers who will be found in private hospitals.
It is a way that we saw that may reduce a lot of challenges in the hospital.
</blockquote>

Pindula News

The Deputy Minister of Health said some hospital staff are breaking machines on purpose to get extra money working in private hospitals. He wants to reintroduce locum in public hospitals to keep workers from leaving. The Chief Medical Officer at UBH wants measures to attract doctors back to public hospitals. He says having locum funds will help reduce challenges in hospitals. It's important for staff to work together in public hospitals and not sabotage equipment for personal gain.

Health Deputy Minister Blames Staff Sabotage For Equipment Breakdowns In Public Hospitals

The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday, upheld the rights of all breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women, as well as children under six, to be provided with free health services at public hospitals, reported <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2023-04-19-gauteng-health-department-studying-court-order-on-free-healthcare-for-migrant-mothers/">SowetanLive</a>.
The court said these rights are included for foreign and undocumented patients.
The order follows a court application brought in May 2022 by the public interest law centre Section27, in response to complaints by pregnant women and mothers of young children who have been required to pay fees to access healthcare services at public hospitals in Gauteng.
Section27, said it welcomed the High Court’s decision. It said the court ordered that the policy introduced by the Gauteng Department of Health in 2020, which denied free healthcare services to foreign pregnant women and young children, was now declared illegal.
Section27 also said the Gauteng Department of Health was also ordered to amend its policy by 16 October 2023. Section27 spokesperson Pearl Nicodemus said:
<blockquote>
The court order vindicates constitutional rights, specifically women’s sexual and reproductive health rights and children’s right to health.
These health rights are promoted when we prioritise combating maternal and child morbidity and mortality by increasing access to free healthcare services for all persons.
</blockquote>
Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said they will comment after they had gone through the ruling:
<blockquote>
The Gauteng Department of Health takes note of the court ruling and is currently going through the judgment and its implications. We will comment further on it in due course.
</blockquote>
In 2022, Limpopo Provincial MEC for Health, Dr Phophi Constance Ramathuba, was filmed ranting at a Zimbabwean patient saying she was straining her health budget.
Meanwhile, Nicodemus said the court ruling reduces the financial barriers that vulnerable women and children face when trying to access care in South Africa. He said:
<blockquote>
Government respondents failed to respond to the litigation, other than filing a notice of intention to oppose in July 2022.
Regrettably, as we know, many categories of migrant persons [mainly asylum seekers, undocumented, and persons affected by statelessness] were being denied these free health services.
By affirming that these free health services must be provided, it reduces the financial barriers that vulnerable women and children face when trying to access care.
</blockquote>
South Africa is home to millions of migrants, some undocumented, from other African countries and this has bred resentment among locals which has often degenerated into xenophobia.
More: <a href="https://zero.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

SA Court Orders Public Hospitals To Grant Free Healthcare To Foreign Mothers

The <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Zimbabwe_Anti-Corruption_Commission">Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission</a> has started to monitor public health institutions to make sure drugs are not being diverted to the black market, The Herald reports.
ZACC confirmed the operation in a statement that said:
<blockquote>The objective of the operation is to ensure that there are no leakages and abuse in the distribution of drugs to hospitals.
The operation is meant to bring sanity to hospitals and improve service delivery and stamp out corruption that has seen patients in some parts of the country being made to pay huge amounts of money for drugs which are sourced by Government funds or donated by the Global Fund, WHO and other international partners</blockquote>
Zimbabwean hospitals have been battling drug shortages for some time now, with <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/2019/12/04/full-text-doctors-10-issues-of-concern-in-the-running-of-public-hospitals/">doctors on strike citing the drug shortage as one of the things they want to be fixed before they return to work. </a>
More: <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/zacc-probes-drug-thefts-at-hospitals/">The Herald</a>

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