Catholic Health Workers in Zimbabwe Concerned about Lengthy COVID-19 Processes

In the February 12 report, the Sister in Charge at the Mission Hospital, Matthias Shuro, said that COVID-19 samples are transported to Harare on a weekly basis. 

“If the district hospital fails to provide transport to take specimens to Harare for the next level of screening on that particular week, then the process is compromised as those at the lab reference want specimens that are less than 5 days old post-collection,” said Shuro.  

In the news report, Dr. Banda noted that the hospital, which has recorded four cases of the coronavirus lacks specialized equipment to deal with the disease.

The Medical Superintendent at the Mission Hospital further said that the three oxygen concentrators available at the health facility are “not enough in this time of the crisis.”

Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and COVID-19 test kits are also limited at the Catholic-run institution, Dr. Banda said.

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Attesting to the shortage of equipment at the hospital, the Matron at the health facility, Sr. Emmah Miti, said that “test kits are not enough even to test our health workers.”

This, Sr. Miti said, “affects the whole process of getting accurate statistics of COVID-19 cases as most people go untested because of shortage of the necessary kits.”

Addressing concerns around the COVID-19 vaccines which arrived in the country February 15, Dr. Banda said, “It's genuine and natural for people to be querying the vaccination.”

“On the positive side,” the medic said, “It is better for people to be vaccinated and get some form of immunity.”

Making reference to the vaccines, she added, “I haven’t heard of any side effects but I wouldn’t say they are not there.”

“Any type of medication or vaccine can have side effects. Because they are things under research, the potential for side effects is there,” said Dr. Banda.

The Southern African country has recorded at least 35,222 cases of coronavirus including 1,410 deaths and 30,759 recoveries.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.