This archive report was first published on 4 December 2019.
As Zimbabwe's health system teeters on the brink of collapse, a 69-year-old self-taught midwife, Esther Gwena, has emerged as a beacon of hope for hundreds of women in need of medical care.
With the country's health sector in shambles, Gwena has been helping to deliver babies in her two-room flat in Mbare township, a feat that has earned her comparisons to Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing.
According to Gwena, she helped deliver 250 babies, all of whom are alive and kicking and at home with their mothers.
However, while some laud Gwena as a selfless do-gooder, doctors worry that she exposed herself, the mothers, and the babies to infection by operating in unsanitary conditions.
"Patients are dying," said a senior doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is no public health in Zimbabwe at the moment; everything has come to a standstill."
The situation in Zimbabwe's hospitals is dire, with medicines in short supply, broken machines unrepaired, and a severe shortage of medical staff.
As a result, hundreds of junior medics at state hospitals have gone on strike, citing low salaries and poor working conditions.
"We need to do something about our facilities so no one goes to her," said Harare's director of medical services, Prosper Chonzi.
Despite the challenges, a small initiative in Bulawayo, Citizwean Clinic, has opened its doors to provide free consultation and drugs to hundreds of patients in the first five days.
"We go to the hospital these days it's bad, there are no doctors. We heard that there were doctors here," said hypertensive patient Elina Dzingire, 63.
Health Minister Obadiah Moyo admitted the situation in hospitals is constrained but says the government will soon advertise the posts left vacant by the sacked doctors.
Published on December 4, 2019.
