Back to Index

More cholera cases in Harare
Caiphas Chimhete, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
Janaury 15, 2006

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/read.php?path=./news/2006/January/Sunday15/&st_id=600

CASES of cholera continue to be reported in Harare despite claims by government that the situation is firmly under control, The Standard has been told.

Health officials last week said although the number of cases had gone down, cholera patients were still being treated and admitted at Harare's infectious disease referral hospitals, Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital and Wilkins Hospital.

"We are still receiving new cases of cholera although the numbers have dropped. We admitted two more people yesterday (Tuesday)," said a senior official at Beatrice Hospital.

Cholera, a severe intestinal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water, has killed at least 14 people countrywide in the past three weeks. More than 180 cases have so far been reported since the outbreak of the disease three weeks ago.

The official at Beatrice Hospital said: "All hospitals have been ordered not to speak to the Press because the situation embarrasses the government."

He said eight of the 15 people who were still admitted at the hospital were discharged on Wednesday while Emerenciance Mashindi, who was pregnant, was referred to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.

The Standard could not obtain figures from Wilkins but officials at the hospital also confirmed that they were still dealing with cholera cases.

Addressing a Press conference after touring Mbare Musika on Wednesday, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, David Parirenyatwa, insisted that the situation was under control and that there were no more new cases of cholera being reported.

"We have alerted our provincial medical directors and all hospitals are ready to deal with the situation. In fact, the situation is under control," Parirenyatwa said.

But the president of the Zimbabwe Medical Association (Zima), Dr Billy Rigava, said it would be folly to believe that cholera had been eradicated when conditions that caused the outbreak were still prevalent.

Rigava, who blamed the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare for failing to contain the preventable disease, said the country could safely only say it is safe from cholera three weeks after the last case has been detected.

"The ministry of health should take the blame for failing to contain a preventable disease. It's a preventable condition, there is no excuse for failing to prevent it," Rigava said.

He said the outbreak was a clear indication of the collapse of the country's health delivery system.

The Zima president said government can not wish away cholera unless it addresses issues regarding the provision of clean running water and ensures refuse collection and the removal of rubble left behind after the the controversial "Operation Murambatsvina", which left nearly one million Zimbabweans homeless.

For nearly a year now, Harare City Council has failed to regularly collect refuse in the city, leading to the current outbreak of cholera and other water-borne diseases. The council has also been struggling to provide clean running water with some Harare residents resorting to digging wells or fetching water from unprotected and polluted streams, exposing themselves to water-borne diseases.

Also speaking after touring Mbare, where uncollected garbage and human waste are attracting swarms of flies and other vermin, Harare City Council town clerk, Nomutsa Chideya, attributed the council's failure to service the city to the shortage of fuel, vehicles and the charging of unsustainable service fees by the local authority.

Presently, Harare has 14 refuse collection trucks instead of the required 90. Only one is servicing the whole of Mbare.

"In a week's time, we would have finished cleaning up Mbare and the vendors will be back here," said Chideya, who struggled to explain why the council only reacted after 14 people succumbed to cholera.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP