Dear Wicknell Chivayo
I WRITE this letter to you with a heavy heart. I’m helpless about the difficult situations we are going through as a country.
I’m a health worker at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital formerly known as Harare Central Hospital and popularly known as Pagomo. The situation at the hospital is disheartening, we have resorted to praying for our patients because we cannot offer healthcare due to incapacitation. We do not even know where to start.
The hospital has no medication for patients, especially metronidazole and it cannot even afford a bottle of water for admitted patients. Mostly we ask relatives of patients to provide water.
It has one working borehole which is very dangerous, particularly these days of a cholera outbreak. So you can imagine trying to fetch water for hundreds of patients, is it feasible?
We can only do so much as health workers, but at times we get tired.
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Secondly, the autoclave machine is not working and it is the most important machine as it is used to decontaminate certain biological waste and sterilise media, instruments and lab ware. This makes our jobs very difficult as we are now relying on Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals for the service of autoclave.
We have tried to improvise, but it is proving futile.
We are watching our friends and relatives die day and night like flies due to shortage of resources.
To make matters worse the hospital has no sodium hypochlorite which is used for general cleaning to avoid the spread of diseases.
We know a person does whatever he wants with his money, but Chivayo please donate some money to hospitals to save lives rather than splashing on expensive vehicles while patients on the deathbed suffer.
Do you know that Sally Mugabe Central Hospital is operating with only three intensive care unit beds which is very dangerous.
Patients are dying as if they are not in a hospital.
At the moment we are appealing to you and all those with willing hearts to assist the sick.
Many patients are dying and it weighs down on our spirits to an extent that we see no reason to go to work because our duty is to save lives, but we are strained.
May you chip in with money to buy machines which include autoclave, X-ray, ultrasound scan, renovate our ICU department, emergency room and purchase of medication.
I will not dwell much on the issue of ambulances because it is in the public domain.
I want to remind you that life is sacrosanct, hence you should prioritise health. - Sally Mugabe Central Hospital employee