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Power cuts fatal blow to ailing health sector
John Mokwetsi, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
January 13, 2008

http://allafrica.com/stories/200801140515.html

Sheila Moyo (not her real name) remembers with fondness the elderly woman who assisted her during childbirth each time she looks at her bouncing baby.

Moyo (27), gave birth at night near Glenview Polyclinic on 31 December, with the assistance of the stranger who appeared from "nowhere" to rescue her.

Unfortunately, she did not leave her name and address.

The young woman, who was in labour, had been turned away from the clinic after nurses decided that without electricity, it would be impossible to help her deliver.

They said they would have swung into action if she had brought the three candles required to light up the clinic during a blackout.

"It was traumatic," she said recently. "Imagine, I gave birth just a stone's throw away from the clinic. I am grateful that my child is in good health. A good Samaritan took me to Harare Hospital for further care of the new baby."

During the power cuts, nurses at the polyclinic dare not attempt to assist expectant mothers deliver. It would be like trying to thread a needle in the dark.

To avoid having to work in the dark, they now limit maternity registration to 10 mothers a day. The result? The women start queuing as early as 2 am to be among the Chosen Ten.

Kuwadzana 4 suburb has endured darkness for four months. The clinic there has a big banner advising people "to come with three candles each for the doctors' visibility".

Council clinics in most high-density areas in Harare, to which most power cuts are confined, now use candles and paraffin lamps for lighting up when attending to patients.

On the black market, where they are invariably more available than on the open market, the candles cost $3 million each. The price of paraffin varies from $2 500 000 to $4 000 000 for a 750ml bottle.

The ordinary citizen worries about raising money for candles and paraffin. But doctors warn that the power cuts are severely affecting the health delivery system, already reeling from critical shortage of drugs, equipment and key personnel.

The chairman of the Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights (ZDHR), Douglas Gwatidzo said the health delivery system cannot operate without electricity.

"You need enough light to treat a patient," he said. "The drugs and vaccines we use need storage at certain temperatures and all that equipment needs uninterrupted electricity. Things like needles need sterilization and all this requires a steady supply of power."

Gwatidzo said some patients were being given sub-standard drugs because of the power cuts.

There are reports that clinics are now storing drugs outside the stipulated refrigerated conditions, posing a great threat to patients' health.

Tapiwanashe Gwakura, the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Medical Association (ZIMA) described the current situation as a "frustrating experience".

"The health sector, for most doctors who operate surgical clinics in most areas around the country, has become rather traumatic. Appointments are regularly being cancelled," he said.

Doctors said, sometimes failed to attend to a patient because a particular machine, sensitive to power cuts, would have been affected.

He also lamented the costs associated with the use of generators.

"The cost of the fuel required for a heavy duty generator is prohibitive and these costs are borne by the patients."

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) spokesperson Fullard Gwasira said health institutions should not be switched off.

He said: "Zesa's policy towards health institutions is that we do not load-shed referral hospitals. But due to the current wet spell, we cannot rule out that technical faults may occur on the network."

"Whenever they occur, we have dedicated personnel to attend to them. Clinics, unfortunately, are not covered due to logistical constraints. But plans are on the cards to include them under the same arrangement."

In general terms, Gwasira said only a cost recovery tariff would greatly assist in rehabilitating and maintaining the electricity network.

He said over 200 transformers had been vandalized in Harare and needed urgent repair.

"In some areas it is true that Zesa cannot immediately solve the problems. A transformer requires billions in local currency and we just do not have the capacity for that, given the uneconomic tariffs we charge," he said.

In the high-density suburbs, the consensus is the power cuts have made people's lives miserable.

A survey in most areas in Harare showed that many people had resorted to using firewood but the torrential rains have made this straightforward, mundane chore a nightmare.

Sandra Tevedza of Kuwadzana 4 said: "Cooking has become a nightmare. Everyone here is spending a fortune on firewood and the elusive paraffin. Most people now go to friends' houses at weekends to iron clothes and refrigerate meat and other perishables."

Elizabeth Murozvi from Glenview Area 8, a mother of three - between coughing from the choking smoke - said she feared for her health and that of her family.

"Every day is a horror." she said. "There is smoke everywhere and most of the people now have the flu. The clinic does not have medicine and the pharmacy asks for anything up to $4 million. The urban areas have become a nightmare."

In Highfield, where residents of a number of suburbs have been without electricity for six months, thieves have been have making rich pickings.

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