A front-line doctor at Parirenyatwa who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity painted a grim picture of the COVID-19 situation at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
He said the hospital has only three ICU beds, three ventilators, and four high flow nasal cannula machines.
“That is what we are currently making use of,” the doctor said.
The COVID-19 unit currently has about 60 patients. He said a shortage of key staff such as nurses at the hospital was hampering the fight against the disease.
“Working in the COVID-19 unit is voluntary, but no one is volunteering – especially ICU nurses and intensivists [anaesthetists],” he told Al Jazeera.
“Six patients died in the ward the other night and then four, but it’s mostly because there is no medication and equipment.”
Meanwhile, a senior government official, Nick Mangwana, the government spokesperson, said Zimbabwe does not have a shortage of beds for COVID-19.
“We have a lot of beds available. Our current occupancy is around 18 percent only. What happens is that if some of our COVID-19 special nurses test positive, it either affects a big number of them or some have to be isolated until tested and the results come out.
“That turns to paralyse that ward and almost puts it out of commission until it has been disinfected and another set of staff takes over. That’s what overwhelms us. Not the bed space,” he told Al Jazeera.
He said the government was working on incentive packages to attract key staff in COVID hospitals.
Harare Metropolitan Minister Oliver Chidau said the government needs to enforce its lockdown to contain the spread of the disease in the capital.
Currently, Harare has the highest number of COVID-19 cases.
“As government, we have a lot of hospitals that have been refurbished … We all thought COVID-19 had receded. We didn’t anticipate this sudden spike in infections. With the lockdown, we should be able to cope,” Chidau told Al Jazeera.
“The new wave caught us unawares. We are doing our best to be on top of the pandemic. Even developed countries are struggling with this pandemic.”
An analysis of official COVID-19 data shows new cases have been rising since November and averaged 100 cases daily last month, compared with the previous two months when infections stood at about 25 a day.
The numbers have been rising exponentially since last week.
On Tuesday, 534 cases were recorded, bringing the national total to 15,829 confirmed cases, a figure more than 50 percent higher from a month ago.
A total of 11,716 patients have, recovered to date, while 384 people have died.
“As a Zimbabwean, I feel sad for my country that COVID-19 has come to an ill-prepared country,” Musasiwa said. “As a Christian, the situation in God’s hands.”
-AL JAZEERA
