No food and no medical care

Food shortages and hyperinflation are forcing people to take desperate measures to survive. Some extremely hungry people have taken to buying animal feed intended for cattle and chickens by the cupful  (because a full bag is too expensive) for their own consumption. It’s a worrying development because there is no telling what additives might have been added to the feed. For example, if hormones have been added, what would the long term impact be on humans or on child development?

The military, however, are not eating animal feed. They have been seen buying animals for slaughter in some rural areas. Reports we’ve received say that the soldiers are using foreign currency to buy the meat. The big question is, where are they getting the cash? In addition to the ‘forex’ clanger, we’ve been told that the Bakossi shops are being used primarily for Zanu PF card holders. So Mugabe loyalists receive privileged treatment yet again.

The health service has crumbled beyond belief. People are dying in urban hospitals for stupid reasons - because they have no saline, IVs, antibiotics etc. Health care has been in a desperate state for a very long time now, but it really feels like its on its very last legs. Zimbabwe has at least 60 dialysis machines, but only one is operational and it is in Harare. The queue for that machine is no less than 100 people long per day.

Rural hospitals are now non functional: they have no drugs, plaster of paris etc. People with broken bones are strapped up (if they can provide their own bandages) and told to go home. But supplying your own medical drugs and materials is also becoming harder and harder to do - assuming a person has the money to pay the very high prices. Normally a person would go to a pharmacy to stock up on what the hospital or clinic needed to treat them, but pharmacies are going bankrupt as they have no forex to import drugs. This means people are relying on local manufacturers of drug supplies, and this is obviously very limited.

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