By Dr Henry Madzorera| Life is a gift from God, and it’s sacrosanct.

The illegitimate regime has unilaterally withdrawn the Right to Life and the Right to Health from the people both through its acts of commission and omission.

The incapacitation of doctors nationwide is a serious infringement on the people’s Constitutional Right to Healthcare.

Doctors are living way below the poverty datum line; and yet are expected to render what the regime labels as “an essential service”.

What worries the ordinary man in the street is that government has been given adequate notice by the doctors to improve their conditions of service, both personal and institutional, to avert a human resources crisis in healthcare; yet there seems to be no urgency on the part of the illegitimate regime to address the very genuine grievances of the doctors.

The wage adjustment offered by government recently (60%) is a pittance and won’t improve the lives of doctors.

Is the illegitimate regime waiting for the deadline of 3/9 /19 to start acting on the grievances.

Do innocent people have to die first before illegitimate regime acts?

The equity gap continues to widen as the rich and powerful elite continue to squander the scarce national resources on treatment outside our boarders, while our own healthcare institutions continue to be death traps because of gross underfunding.

Even the most basic medicines and supplies are always out of stock in spite of government’s incessant claims that stocks of medicines are on their way, while acutely haemorrhaging accident victims are being told to go and buy their own suture material and intravenous fluids at private pharmacies many kilometers away, before they can be helped.

This is the reality of what is happening in our hospitals.

The lie that the regime has procured all essential medicines for our hospitals and clinics is nauseating, as we are fully conscious of the fact that patients are routinely dying of curable illnesses because they can not afford to buy medicines worth as little as US$15.

Evidence on the ground, for example, shows that the number of stroke patients being admitted to our hospitals has skyrocketed lately because patients can’t afford their chronic care medication anymore.

The sad tragedy is that even health care workers (doctors included) cannot afford for themselves and their families the services they are offering to others on a daily basis.

The MDC calls upon the regime to act promptly to address the grievances of the doctors and show that they respect the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.

A soft genocide is looming in the horizon if we don’t act NOW to avert the crisis.

We further urge the regime to proactively address nurses’ and other health workers’ issues before further disaster strikes.

We urge senior authorities in the health sector to be advocates for these disgruntled doctors, and not be used to intimidate, harass and threaten fellow health workers who are only asking for a fair return on their labour.

We further urge the illegitimate regime to recognize the primacy of healthcare, and prioritize procurement of essential medicines and supplies.

This is one area that cannot be managed by politicking and public relations stunts. It requires a genuine prioritization and actual disbursement of funds.

Lastly we urge the country’s top political leaders to seek their treatment at home!

Our healthcare delivery system used to be the envy of the subregion, and with a little paradigm shift in our leadership we can regain that status to the benefit of all, rich and poor.

MDC@20: Celebrating courage, growth and the people’s victories

Dr Henry Madzorera