Acting President Kembo Mohadi and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Nick Mangwana have issued conflicting statements regarding the state of health facilities in Zimbabwe amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Mangwana recently said the country was overoverwhelmed and overrun by the virus and called on Zimbabweans who could avoid getting infected to do, as the health system was being overrun.
“We hear UK beds are overwhelmed by Covid19. Well, that’s them.They say in SA, hospital admission thresholds are now quite high- that’s them.
“But, let me tell you about our own situation, don’t catch the virus if you can avoid it. We are being overwhelmed and overrun by this virus,” he said.
However, Mohadi asked by journalists at a press conference, differed with Mangwana, saying he wasn’t aware that the health system was being overwhelmed.
He directed the journalist to go and verify before asking.
Meanwhile, renowned political and social commentator, Elder Mabhunu says someone between the two, Mangwana and his boss, one of them could either be lying to the nation or misinformed.
“How can Mohadi say he is not aware of the situation on the ground? Someone between him and Mangwana could be lying or misinformed,” he says.
He also chided the acting President for ordering journalists to verify things before asking, saying the asking itself is proper and a way of verifying the facts.
Another analyst, Dr Alex Magaisa said; “I watched the last bit of Acting President Kembo Mohadi’s press conference.
“When asked about congestion at the hospitals he essentially said he was not aware there is any congestion.
“Instead of undertaking to investigate, he directed the journalist to go and verify before asking.”
Apparently, there has been a surge in the demand for hospital beds due to Covid-19 in some of the country’s major health centres with patients having a torrid time accessing medical help as the institutions are full.
Mangwana had previously shared these sentiments on microblogging site Twitter.
“To put our situation into perspective, you see we recorded nearly 500 positive new cases in two days. If it so happens that these new cases need a hospital bed, then you can see how we can easily run out of beds. And in those two days we have lost nine people and much more in a week,” he tweeted.
-Zwnews
