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Senior Reporter
Government has been touched by the emotional presentation by senior doctors on the state of affairs in its public health institutions and will continue exploring available options to mitigate the challenges, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo has said.

In an interview with The Herald yesterday on his earlier engagement with senior doctors from Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, from which an emotional video on how public health institutions were struggling to provide basic health care services was captured and went viral, Dr Moyo said the incident proved that sanctions imposed on the country were not in any way targeted as portrayed by the West.

“I have also seen the video from which one of our paediatricians was captured talking, and I think this has been a useful exercise to publicise the problems we are having with our healthcare service in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“This has been useful for the world to know that we are working under tough conditions as a result of the sanctions imposed on our country by the United States through ZIDERA (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act).

“I wish that video could also reach the United States President Donald Trump so that he can be able to see the catastrophe which the sanctions have caused on the generality of Zimbabweans.

“I am personally going to send a copy of the recording to the American Ambassador here in Zimbabwe through our Foreign Affairs office and I will invite him to visit our hospitals so that he can see the catastrophe which their sanctions are causing.”

Dr Moyo said Government will continue working towards alleviating the situation using the little resources at its disposal.

He called on hospital administrators to treat procurement of commodities as a matter of urgency whenever foreign currency is made available.

“Irrespective of the dilemma in which we are in, we shall continue to be innovative and think outside the box to see how best we can be able to overcome the situation in the meantime,” said Dr Moyo.

The doctors engaged with the minister and his team on Wednesday, expressing concerns emanating from shortages of critical medicines and obsolete equipment in public health institutions, impacting negatively on health delivery.

One of the specialist doctors, Dr Azza Mashumba, who is the head of paediatric services at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, broke down during her presentation on the state of affairs to the Government team.