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Paidamoyo Chipunza and Sibongile Maruta
THERE is an outbreak of lung infection in infants in Harare, amid indications that the city’s children’s hospital was failing to cope with increased demand for its services.

When The Herald visited the 58-bed Harare Children’s Hospital at Harare Central Hospital yesterday, there were about 140 infants admitted.

Dozens were in the casualty department, while others could be seen trickling in. The majority of the infants were suffering from bronchiolitis and pneumonia.

Treatment rooms were improvised to accommodate additional beds. The eight-bed cubicles accommodate an average 16 beds each. An additional ward had been created in the High Dependency Unit and another on the first floor of the hospital to accommodate all the sick babies.

There was a shortage of equipment like nebuliser machines and oxygen flow metres used to manage infants suffering from bronchiolitis and pneumonia and the infants took turns to share the life-saving equipment.

There were fears this could possibly result in the reinfection of those who would have recovered, while the hospital was admitting more than it was discharging.

Paediatric casualty officer at the hospital Dr Tawanda Kuzinya said they were seeing an average of 120 new infants a day. The majority of them suffer from bronchiolitis or pneumonia.

“Bronchiolitis is a seasonal viral infection which can pass from one child to another. It starts like a common cold, then progresses to coughing, wheezing and sometimes difficulty in breathing.”

Dr Kuzinya said oxygen improves the condition of young children with bronchiolitis. Another senior doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said cases of bronchiolitis normally increase between March and April, but this year the outbreak appeared to have started earlier than expected. It is also more severe compared to previous years.

“We started seeing increased cases mid-February and the cases seem to be more severe compared to previous years,” said the doctor.

Matron in charge for the Children’s Hospital Lucia Jongwe said the hospital authorised hiring of locum staff to assist in attending to the babies. Matron Jongwe said new oxygen flow metres were procured recently, but they were still not adequate.

She said they still needed an additional 40 double oxygen metres to be able to provide all admitted children with the required oxygen.

Some of the parents interviewed expressed concern over the shortage of equipment and appealed to Government to address the issue as matter of urgency.

Mrs Nyasha Kubindura said she hoped to meet Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa when she visited the hospital recently, but was denied access.