Mpilo probes doctors over $10k op quote Ms Maureen Dube
Ms Maureen Dube

Ms Maureen Dube

Thandeka Moyo, Heath Reporter
MPILO Central Hospital in Bulawayo has instituted an investigation into allegations of corruption after doctors allegedly gave a disabled breast cancer patient a $10 000 quote for a $2 000 operation.

The patient, who lived in perpetual excruciating pain after her breasts had swollen to unmanageable proportions, died before she could raise the money.

Ms Phanankosi Dube (36), who survived on begging and was the family’s breadwinner, died last Saturday while gasping for breath at her home in Makokoba suburb.

Information gathered by The Chronicle indicates that five doctors are under investigation.

Although their names could not be obtained, they include a Dr Matsika and a Dr Chiboyiwa whom Dube’s family managed to identify.

Ms Dube’s family opened up to The Chronicle and accused doctors at one of the country’s largest referral hospitals of gross cruelty.

They said the doctors at one point discharged Ms Dube while she was still critical.

Mpilo clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said the public health institution was taking the investigations very seriously.

“Firstly it is sad that the patient died before I knew anything about her problems. I would have wished to help her. My sincere condolences to the family.

“The allegations raised in the paper are very disturbing and I strongly condemn them (doctors) in the strongest possible terms. The hospital is already conducting investigations and if any of the doctors are found guilty of malpractice, they will face disciplinary action as laid out in their conditions of service,” said Dr Ngwenya.

He said the investigating board would determine the course of action after the investigations are complete.

“The public should not make any private arrangements or payments to staff at the hospital but deal with official channels such as paying fees at the Accounts department and obtaining official receipts. The hospital is a public institution and no individual should be paid money. They must also involve my office or the chief executive officer’s office early so that they get the correct and proper treatment at all times.”

The doctors appear to have gone against the Zimbabwean Patient’s Charter, which states that everyone has the right to healthcare and humane treatment.

“Every individual shall have access to competent health care and treatment regardless of age, sex, ethnic origin, religion, political affiliation, economic status or social class,” reads the charter.

“Healthcare services shall be available on the basis of clinical needs regardless of the ability to pay. It shall be the responsibility of the government to ensure that every person has access to essential health services.”

Patients, according to the document, should be treated with care, respect, dignity without discrimination of any kind including vulnerable groups such as children, women, and people with physical challenges, rural dwellers taking into consideration issues of accessibility to both physical structures and information.

Health experts said the late Ms Dube’s operation was supposed to cost at most $2 000 at a public health institution like Mpilo Central Hospital.

Ms Dube’s family said when her health deteriorated, the doctors insisted that she should wait for June 19, the day of the operation when she was supposed to pay the $10 000 upfront for the operation.

Ms Dube’s mother, Ms Maureen Dube, said her daughter died a painful death and blamed the hospital authorities for prematurely discharging her.

“We took her to the hospital on May 19 and the first doctor we saw around 8PM admitted her and said she needed an urgent operation.

Three days later I was told she had been discharged and the nurse rudely told us to bring her back whenever there was an emergency,” she said.

Ms Dube said she does not understand why her daughter was discharged in that condition which, she believes, led to her death at home.

— @thamamoe

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