Zimbabwe: Urban patients referred to rural mission hospitals

HARARE, 29 January 2009 (PlusNews) - Instead, staff at the maternity wing told her the hospital was closed because of the health worker boycott.

Her doctor had recommended that her baby be delivered by Caesarean section because she was HIV positive and had previously suffered a hip injury.

In the government guidelines on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, HIV-positive pregnant women are encouraged to deliver by Caesarean, where facilities are available, to reduce the chances of passing on the virus to the baby.

But even after the doctor's advice, the senior matron holding the fort in the maternity ward told Chimbindi and other women already in labour to go to the private sector, and if they could not afford this, they should travel to mission hospitals outside Harare for treatment.

"The student nurses at Parirenyatwa hospital referred us to Howard mission hospital in Chiweshe, and Karanda hospital in Mount Darwin. They said there was nothing they could do, as they were inexperienced," Chimbindi told IRIN/PlusNews.

"Can you believe women already with labour pains were being told to travel more than 60 kilometres to Howard, or 150 kilometres to Karanda mission? As I sat there on that hospital bench I felt really lucky - at least I wasn't in pain, and I had come to admit myself for an elective Caesarean section."

This experience is becoming common as more and more people requiring medical care in Harare are forced to travel long distances to rural mission hospitals for treatment.

Read the full article here http://www.IRINnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82629