Thought you might like to read the following: We too got raked over the coals yesterday when we brought some food for patients, but a bit later than visiting hours, so we have to comply or else they go hungry. Last night a stroke victim (unconscious) turned away because that is not an emergency!
Paulal
—– Original Message —–
From: <africawind@edcomember.net>
To: <sheilaw@zol.co.zw>
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 4:13 PM
Subject: hi from Fl.
Just read the following in the news:
Burn for burns – Mutare General Hospital
Hello to you all, a short update ~
Since I last wrote to you about the hospital and our situation,
things have gone from bad to chronic! I have been going to the
hospital over the last few weeks (every second day and in visiting
hours so as to prevent being noticed or too many ‘questions’ being
asked!!)
Just to put you in the picture there is a case I would like to share
with you ~ Precious was admitted; having been referred by a rural
clinic; with a minor infection in her foot. By the time a nurse asked
me to see her (at 12 years old she is in the women’s ward) the foot
was badly infected. I left medicines and dressings for the nurses to
treat her. Nurses went on strike and I had to resort to dressing
Precious and the burn victims myself. Horrified I discovered the foot
had lost a considerable amount of flesh and the infection had rapidly
spread. Precious told me that nurses had been cutting away the
rotting/dead flesh and washing the foot with tap water as the
medicine I had left her was ‘finished’!! Further more, when I visited
the hospital yesterday I discovered that there had been no food in
the hospital for
2 days and patients had only been given a cup of black sugarless tea.
My stew was obviously in high demand. My heart broke as I watched
Precious attack her portion of stew like an animal, frantically
sucking on the bones – she had not eaten for over 24hrs!! Precious
cannot walk, she has no money to buy food, her mother has visited her
3 times in 4 weeks so she lies quietly on the hospital bed, in pain
and starving -
FACT ~ At the time of writing this email, there has been no
food in Mutare General Hospital; unless provided by friends and
family; for 48 hours.
One wonders how long this going to go on for and how much worse it
can get? Victims are being ‘victimized’ and I personally cannot sit
back and watch. . . .
MUTARE GENERAL HOSPITAL APPEAL
Mutare General Hospital in Zimbabwe is in a dire state. . .
There is NO liquid paracetamol, NO material for dressings, NO burn
cream, NO anti septic, NO drips, NO surgical gloves, limited
anti-biotics , (all these are required and need to be purchased by
family members that can barely afford to survive on a daily basis) NO
sterile burn environment for burn victims, ward curtains are torn,
windows are broken, sheets are worn, the food (when available) is
supplied but without nourishment(over the last 4 weeks patients have
been fed a small portion of sadza/rice with cabbage boiled in salt
water) children that are malnourished are being sent home to die as
the required protein formula is unavailable. X-rays are unable as
there is no film. . . tragically the list is endless . . .
UPDATE ~ there has been no food provided to patients for the last 48
hours, those without family to provide food – go hungry!!
Our nurses threaten to strike, not for the mere $70 000.00 (less than
US$1.00) that they earned this last month but for the conditions
under which they work. Daily the nurses suffer heartache as they
watch helplessly as patients, particularly children, die ~
unnecessarily! Constant frustration of not being able to put their
knowledge into practice due to the lack of medical supplies can only
be disheartening. . . . .
Recently a news headline was one that chilled many to the bone ~
“death is stalking Zimbabwe’s children” ~ apparently even children
from the middle class are suffering.
More chilling quotes from the same news report ~
“Half the admissions end up in the mortuary”
“Malnutrition is a silent emergency that affects young children and
they die quietly”
~ the quote I find most alarming ~
“In hospital we cannot feed them (starving children), at least at
home they can scrounge for things. We only keep those that we can see
won’t make it at home. We have lost the battle before we have fought
it. . . “
Are we prepared to help fight the battle for our children to be able
to see in another season or do we just walk away with blood on our
hands??
OUR NATION IS BLEEDING AND SO ARE OUR CHILDREN . . . . .
I firmly believe that even if we make a difference to one child’s
life – WE HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE!!
~ “do not forget to do good and to share with others for with such
sacrifices God is pleased” Hebrews 13:16 ~
