Kennedy Murwira
Residents of the new town of Mpandawana in Gutu have alleged that service at Gutu Rural Hospital has deteriorated and the situation has been worsened by an acute shortage of drugs which has persistently haunted the hospital for some time.
The residents, who were speaking at a one day meeting organised by Tell Zimbabwe to discuss the state of affairs in the town, alleged that ‘patients were maltreated at the hospital and the nursing staff spent the whole day relaxing in their offices while the nurse aides did the donkey work’.
“As the situation stands the nurse aides have become the nurses because they are carrying out the duties that must be carried out by the nurses. Something must surely be done to improve the quality of service at the hospital since it is the only one that serves the town and the surrounding areas,” said one of the residents.
The residents further alleged that the hospital was faced by an acute drug shortage. They said that there had been no procurement of drugs for some time adding that they believed that the hospital’s funds had been transferred to the district purse making it impossible to obtain any drugs directly for the hospital.
Further allegations stated that the mortuary facilities were no longer fit to house cadavers as they were rat infested and cats could also gain entry because the door did not have a lock and stayed partially open most of the time. As a result, they said, some corpses were collected minus the lips or ears which would have been consumed by the rats and cats. The residents called upon the relevant ministry to consider the construction of a new mortuary since Mpandawana was now a town.
The District Nursing Officer (DNO} in Gutu District could not be reached for comment.local
