Dear Medical Director, The Avenues Clinic
I direct your attention your letter of 01 July
2020 below.
“TO: All Specialists, Casualty Officers,
Matrons
From: Medical Director
Date: 01 July 2020
Subject: Admission of patients to Avenues
Clinic
In view of the significant increase in the
number of people testing positive for covid-19 in the country, Management has
decided that all elective admission to the Avenues Clinic should have a
negative PCR covid-19 test.
Emergency cases should have at least an RDT
done. This will minimize the exposure of both health care workers and patients
to infection.
Thank you.”
First of all, I must thank you and your staff
for this initiative which, one hopes, will be copied by all our other clinics
and hospitals across the land. There is no doubt that procedure will certainly
help minimize the spread of the virus.
There is growing evidence to suggest that
corona virus is spreading in the country far more widely than the Ministry of
Health and Child Care reports would suggest.
The last week of May, Mpilo Hospital reported
of four people had tested positive to covid-19, a nurse, one outpatient and two
in patients. There was no evidence in the Ministry of Health reports around the
time to suggest the four cases were included in the national statistics. When
the Acting CEO was asked on the matter, he was evasive.
"We do have new (covid-19) cases at the
hospital and the figures have changed but am not at liberty to disclose
anything at the moment,” said Mpilo Central Hospital Clinical Director and
Acting CEO Dr Solwayo Ngwenya.
“All I can say is that the behavour of people
in the city is worrying. It is as if all is normal. If you look at the human
and vehicular traffic on our streets, you will be shocked.”
I would like to ask The Avenues Clinic the
following questions:
1) How
many Avenues Clinic health care workers, patients, outpatients, etc. have
tested covid-19 positive since the outbreak?
2) How
many people have died at the Clinic and had tested covid-19 positive?
3) Has
The Avenues Clinic tested for corona virus all suspected showing covid-19
symptoms?
4) Has The
Avenue Clinic informed the Ministry of Health of all covid-19 positive cases
and deaths above?
5) Has
the Clinic informed the covid-19 positive patients of their status, especially
those the Clinic was refused to admit because of their covid-19 positive
status?
6) What
measures have The Avenues Clinic put into place to protect ambulance staff from
covid-19 infection?
I sincerely hope The Avenues Clinic will answer all these questions in the spirit they have been asked, to help stop the spread of the corona virus save Zimbabwean lives. History will never forgive any of us who helped the spread of this deadly virus by deliberately keeping the people ignorant of the spreading virus. Ignorance kills, help save lives by telling the nation the truth.
Thank you very much
11 comments:
If Zimbabwe has been under reporting the number of confirmed covid-19 cases and deaths then the consequences of that decision is corona virus has spread far and wide endangering the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans and millions of others across the world. By aiding and abetting the spread of the virus the Zimbabwe government has allowed the virus mutate making it that much more difficult to contain the virus as these mutants are often stubbornly resistant to the common cure and vaccine against the original virus.
If Zimbabwe has been under reporting corona virus cases, this is a regime known for being notoriously devious and already there is growing mountain of evidence to prove it has been falsifying covid-19 figures, then the regime has crossed the red line. There must be a full public judiciary inquiry to establish who were responsible for this heinous crime against the nation and humanity. There is no doubt that many of Zimbabwe’s health professionals have been complacent or worse in this treasonous and murderous act!
Dr Li Wenliang of Wuhan General Hospital, the doctor credited with identifying the corona virus at the outbreak, knew this was a deadly virus which would kill million of people in China and across the world if it was not quickly contained. His duty to himself and humanity was to warn everyone of the new virus. The Chinese government, another notoriously secretive and devious regime, try to silence Dr Li Wenliang. He refused to be silenced.
In Zimbabwe we have thousands of highly qualified medical professional who, when the truth and nothing but the truth comes out, will be found to have played a major role is hiding the true extend of the corona virus in the country. “I was not at liberty to tell the truth!” they will plead.
If Zimbabwe have been testing, tracking and tracing at anything close to what SA has been doing then we should have 42 015 confirmed cases (1/4 of SA’s 168 061 cases and population) as contrast to 617 official figure. Zimbabwe is under reporting its corona virus problem by as much as 70 times. No doubt by the time a cure or vaccine is finally available, by the end of the year at the earliest, the true figure will be hundreds of times high than the official figure and our health professionals will have played their part in helping Zanu PF hide the truth.
China failed to silence Dr Li Wenliang for more than a month. Zanu PF managed to silence five thousand plus doctors for a whole year even when the folly of ignorance was apparent! “I am not at liberty to tell the truth!” has now become the new “I was following orders!”
As a nation, we owe it to the hundreds of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans who died of covid-19 because they were deliberately kept in the dark on the spread of the virus, we owe it to ourselves and to justice, to bring those responsible for under reporting covid-19 cases to justice. This must be done! How can we join in clamouring “Black Lives Matter!” and yet when hundreds of thousands of innocent lives are lost, we do nothing!
“Recording no cases in one day is no reason to relax,” said Dr Norman Matara, ZADHR Secretary.
“Previously there was a period that we went through for almost one week without reporting a single case of Covid-19, but that did not mean we were out of the woods yet.”
Dr Matara should know by now that Zimbabwe has not be testing as aggressively as it should and therefore the country has been under reporting its corona virus cases. Any discourse based on fake figures is not just a complete waste of time but totally irresponsible because such discussion will give the false figures some credibility which is the last thing we should be doing!
“Two of the local cases are contracts to known confirmed cases, investigations are underway to establish the source of infection for the 11 cases,” reported the Ministry of Health.
There is no doubt that corona virus is widespread in Zimbabwe and this raises two points:
1) All we here about the increasing local cases are promises to investigate and then nothing happens. Zimbabwe has been under reporting its local corona virus problems are this cannot be allowed to continue because it is only helping to spread the virus even faster and more widely!
2) What is the point of detaining returnees in these quarantine centres when the virus is probably as prevalent among the returnees as the locals, especially when these centres have become covid-19 hotspots in their own right?
@ Tengenenge
How many billions of dollars in free aid and soft loans has this Zanu PF government received from the Americans and yet you have said nothing. And the Americans give anyone else a few dollars and the whole Zanu PF machinery descend of the individual or organisation like a tonne of bricks! What a hypocrite!
Zimbabwe has recorded its eight death from COVID-19.
The 21 year old female Zimbabwean from the Harare Province with no history of travel and had no-morbidities tested positive on Saturday, and died on the same day.
The country's COVID-19 cases are now at 698 following seventy three (73) cases that tested positive this Saturday. 55 of the confirmed cases are from South Africa, 3 from Botswana, 2 from the USA, 1 from Australia, 1 from Zambia and 8 local locally transmitted cases.
To date the country has registered 181 recoveries and eight deaths since the disease was first recorded in the country. 78 465 tests have been conducted to date.
73 covid-19 positive cases in one day. This is the largest number of positive cases in one day. There four things that should set alarms bells ringing:
1) The large number of returnees testing positive clearly shows that our quarantine centres have become covid-19 hotspots. We know that many of the quarantine centre do not have clean running water so people can safely wash their hands regularly. And many centres are still failing to keep the different groups apart. These are some of the common sense and low cost measures the authorities have failed to implement. This is totally unacceptable.
2) All the 8 local cases in this Saturday’s test are “locally transmitted” proof that the virus is indeed spreading in the local communities. We really need to step up the number of tests in the local communities.
3) Zimbabwe imposed the lockdown when the country had 10 or so confirmed corona virus cases in the country it does not make any sense to still continued the reduced lockdown condition when the number of corona virus cases are soaring. The 698 cases cumulative and 73 case daily are much lower that the real figure because Zimbabwe has not been testing aggressively.
4) Zimbabwe’s health care service had already collapsed long before the corona virus outbreak, right now our health care workers are on strike. Our health care service will not be struggling to cope with just a few hundred covid-19 hospital cases a day. Our only hope of containing the virus is therefore doing everything to stop the virus spreading and to do that we need to test aggressively and impose very strict lockdown measure to contain each outbreak. We are not testing, tracking and tracing as aggressively as we should!
Eighteen (18) cases tested positive for COVID-19 today. These include returnees from South Africa (8), Botswana (6), Canada (1), and 3 local cases who are isolated. TWO (2) of the local cases are contacts of known confirmed cases, investigations are underway to establish the source of infection for the other case.
Today 1213 RDT screening tests and 411 PCR diagnostic tests were done. The cumulative number of tests done to date is 80 089 46 833 RDT and 33 256 PCR). To date the total number of confirmed cases is 716; recovered 181, active cases 527 and 8 deaths, since the onset of the outbreak on 20 March 2020.
Once again, why are there so many covid-19 cases among returnees? It is no secret that the living conditions in most of our quarantine centres are unhygienic and there is a distinct possibility that many of these people are getting the virus at the centre.
The number of tests have increased to 1 624 but given the starting baseline was low, there is definitely need to ramp up the tests. There is no doubt the corona virus is now spreading fast and we must step up the testing, tracking, tracing and isolating.
Police in Harare have arrested 12 nurses and an unknown number of doctors at Sally Mugabe hospital.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the arrested are charged with contravening sec 8(3)(a) of the Public Health (COVID 19 Prevention, Containment & Treatment Regulations).
If the wages are not enough to pay for transport, food and other basics it is foolish to still expect someone to still want to continue to work!
The decades of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption have taken a heavy toll on the nation's economy, it is now in ICU. What a time for it to collapse with corona virus now taking hold. We are in serious trouble!
Cases have also risen to 734 after 18 people tested positive, the Ministry of Health and Child Care said in an update Tuesday morning.
The new cases include 16 citizens who returned from South Africa and two local transmissions.
“Today we regret to report a facility death of a male aged 54 from Bulawayo Province who tested positive yesterday (Sunday) with no history of travel and had co-morbidities,” the ministry said.
Sixteen more people recovered from the infection, raising the total number of recoveries to 197 while active cases are 528.
The country has so far done a total of 80,654 Covid-19 tests.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has since expressed concern over the rising number of local transmissions in the country in recent weeks, although imported cases still account for the bulk of the cases.
The reason why Zimbabwe’s corona virus cases have remained low is because the country is not testing as aggressively as it should. The number of tests carried out each day rose to over a 1000 the other day but have since fallen to less than 600!
This Zanu PF government is expert at cooking figures to suit its selfish political interest, we have seen this during elections. There is a heavy price to be paid for cooking covid-19 figures because the under reporting will only result in ignorance of the virus and thus help it spread far and wide! Many more people will catch the virus and many will die!
About 50 000 t0 100 000 Zimbabweans will die of Coronavirus in the next months, Mpilo Clinical Director Solwayo Ngwenya has foretold.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday Ngwenya said, "Corona virus: according to my own estimates, Zimbabwe could bury 50 000 to 100 000 people in weeks, months to come. Unfortunately, the people and the economy do not like lockdowns. So a biblical catastrophe is on the way. Frightening new figures mean deaths are coming, soon."
The scary prediction comes after Secretary for Information Ndabaningi Nick Mangwana called for security enhancement towards enforcing lockdown regulations.
"The way these COVID19 cases are rising in this country leaves very little room for complacency. Polytechnics are opening next week and schools in the next three weeks. Security should enhance enforcement of our containment measures to ensure we keep everyone safe. We are at war
"Harare has the vast majority of positive COVID19 cases. Yesterday, Bulawayo recorded 30 of the 53 positive cases. If there is any scaling up of containment measures, a more surgical approach is better. It means full scale lockdown should only apply to Harare and Bulawayo." Mangwana said.
The total number of confirmed cases stands at 787, with 201 recoveries, 577 active cases, and 9 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak in Zimbabwe on the 20th of March 2020.
To date, a total of 81 335 tests have been done
The number of tests being carried out still remain disappointingly low. On 4 July the country recorded is greatest number of cases, 73, in one day and yet we still continue to test far less than even the promised target of 1 000 per day. Only 681 tests were done on this occasion.
One of the contributary factors to Zimbabwe’s high covid-19 deaths will be ignorance. This Zanu PF government has ignored the calls to increase the number of tests carried out especially among the local community because it wanted to earn some brownie points for having the lowest number of covid-19 cases. The country’s health professionals have played their part in helping the regime hide the truth. There is no doubt that Zimbabweans have been kept in the dark on how the virus was spreading and this has only help it spread even faster and wider.
“I am not at liberty to tell!” said Mpilo Clinical Director Solwayo Ngwenya when asked about the covid-19 cases at the hospital.
The nation owns it to the many lives lost to covid-19 to ourselves and to posterity to conduct a full inquiry into why so many lives were lost because the nation was deliberately kept in the dark on the covid-19 pandemic!
The residents put blame on the government and the Manicaland Covid 19 task force which is led by Residential Minister Ellen Gwaradzimba.
In a statement from Manicaland, residents said, “In *Bocha Marange* the Apostolic sect is having its *Annual Festival* from July 1 to 21 without any restrictions and worries.
“No masks are being worn. No social distancing in their lorries and cars. Over 10 000 congregants are converging from all the Seven districts of Manicaland.
This is certainly irresponsible. The decision to let the gathering go ahead would have been based of the fact that there are very few local covid-19 cases in Manicaland, officially. There is not one Zimbabwean leader dealing with covid-19 who does not know that the official figure and the real figure are two totally different beasts.
It is criminal negligence on the part of Minister Ellen Gwaradzimba and her team to allow the gathering knowing fully well that covid-19 was widespread in the province! We must hold the country’s buffoons account for the death of innocent Zimbabweans!
“Those with symptoms will spend a minimum of 13 days in isolation and a minimum of 10 days for asymptomatic patients instead of the 21 days following two consecutive negatives PCR results that are 24 hours apart,” said the minister.
She said patients who continue to test positive for the disease were presently not being discharged.
The new WHO criteria for discharging patients from centres were in two parts.
“For symptomatic patients, they should be discharged after a minimum of 13 days which included a minimum of 10 days after symptom onset (fever and respiratory symptoms) and an additional three days without symptoms.
“For those without symptoms (asymptomatic), they can be discharged 10 days after they would have had a positive test,” said the minister.
Zimbabwe is not carrying out these tests on time. The conditions in most quarantine centres are so bad they are now the covid-19 hotspots!
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