By Paul Nyathi
The Minister Of Health And Child Care Doctor David Parirenyatwa on Wednesday snubbed parliament question time leaving Members of the House of Assembly angry at his behaviour.
The Minister made a brief appearance in the house and reportedly went out “to see somebody” and never returned.
Parliamentarians were eager to interrogate the minister on the on going doctors strike and the dire situation at government run health centres.
MDC-T Member of Parliament for Bulawayo Central Honourable Dorcas Sibanda sort from the Acting Speaker of the National Assembly why the Minister had walked in and immediately out well knowing that the house had issues with him.
“The Hon. Minister of Health and Child Welfare was here briefly and vanished. Maybe you highlight on where he has gone to because we still have questions for him,” Honourable Sibanda quizzed.
“The Minister of Health and Child Welfare came to me and indicated that he was just walking out and he is coming back. He has gone out to see somebody. In any case, he is coming to make a Ministerial Statement,” the Acting Speaker ruled.
Besides his commitment to come back in time, the Minister failed to turn up as scheduled only to return to parliament when the house was adjourning after it had lost a quorum some three hours later.
His promised ministerial statement was not issued.
The country’s doctors have been on strike since the beginning of the month protesting mainly on the lack of resources at the government hospitals.
Thousands of patients have been dying at the hospitals due to the unavailability of the doctors.
Nurses also temporarily engaged in the strike but quickly returned to work after they agreed to do it for the sake of the patients.
Government hospitals are suffering from a serious lack of medical equipment and drugs causing huge deaths at the hospitals.
Calls for Dr Parirenyatwa to resign have been made by various sectors in the country. The Minister has arrogantly ignored the calls rather claiming that the hospitals are not being adequately funded by treasury and not accepting the blame on him.