Chidamoyo Hospital in Zimbabwe

This week we had our first rain on Tuesday early evening and got 1 ml.   The next morning, we got a few sprinkles and Wednesday afternoon a few sprinkles to get the land wet.   Saturday we had a big downpour of 5 mls.    We are hopeful this is the start of a great rainy season with lots of crops grown and plenty of food harvested for all.  Things are already getting green! On Monday I got my results back showing I had a UTI so had to have the catheter changed and start on IV medication.   I had 2 days of the medicine I needed from the last time I used it and then sent my drivers to town to buy 5 more days.   With all the upheaval from the Economic meltdown going in Harare they went to 8 pharmacies and hospitals until the finally could buy enough medicine.   I was getting worried and started praying they could find it.   When I heard they couldn’t even get it at a hospital and knowing this med is used for resistant bacteria I began to w...

It has been a busy 2 weeks at the hospital with lots of patients coming from all over the country to be seen. On October 1 st the Zimbabwe government announced new rules for the economy.   Suddenly all bank accounts that were in US dollars were wiped out and put in Bond (local currency).   Also, to make more money for the government you are taxed 2 cents for every dollar used on your debit card or transfer to pay a company.   This has led to an economic meltdown where suddenly $1 US went up to $5 bond. Immediately basic groceries disappeared or increased by 500%.   There are no basic items like bread, cooking oil, sugar and fuel.   It has been hard to transfer our ambulance patients because we can’t get fuel when we go to town. Oil went from $3.50 for 2 liters to $15 overnight at our township!   The most terrible thing is that Pharmacies closed throughout the country.   Our hospital could not buy drugs and suddenly we had no IV ...