Child deaths hit Harare hospital

Harare Central Hospital had run out of essential drugs, resulting in patient deaths, especially among infants, the hospital’s superintendent, Dr Chris Tapfumaneyi, was quoted as saying in the ‘Daily News’ on Friday. The hospital serves the majority of patients from poor and working class families. Children under five are treated free of charge at the hospital.

According to the report, an average of nine infants died at the hospital each week. Tapfumaneyi was quoted as saying that the lack of foreign currency had led to serious problems because the hospital had run out of antibiotics for premature babies who needed regular drug doses. He said doctors were frustrated with their working conditions because they regularly watched helplessly as children died because there were no essential drugs to save them. Also in short supply were drugs used in operating theatres, which affected the hospital’s ability to perform surgery, Tapfumaneyi said. This had prompted some patients to head for South Africa for heart surgery which could be performed at the hospital if the drugs were available, Tapfumaneyi said.

MacJohn Chirisa, a registrar in the infants department, was quoted as saying: “The low number of nurses results in less monitoring of babies and care given to the infants. That, coupled with the shortage of antibiotics, leads to more deaths.” According to the report, Zimbabwe’s death rate among children under five had doubled to 120 for every 1,000 live births in recent years due to the rapid decline in the standard of living.