By 
Harare City Council clinics have allegedly created an artificial shortage of child health cards, there is a group of health personnel who sell them for US$10 and US$20 to desperate parents. Health cards are important and are supposed to be provided for free.
Ministry of Health and Child Care Spokesperson Donald Mujiri referred questions to Harare City Council director Dr. Prosper Chonzi who yesterday confirmed that there were indeed anomalies that are now under investigation.
“Our team is on the ground right now in Warren Park. I am informed that there was a delivery done in October of cards which is failing to be accounted for. The ones that they are using right now were delivered in January so there is a discrepancy of births that occurred and cards used. It could be true that someone was hiding those cards and using them against our policy,” he said.
“The team is currently at Warren Park going through everything, checking on each birth to see if it was given a child health card and serial numbers. But for now, they have cards for both boys and girls. Something is happening that we are investigating right now,” he said.
Zimbabwe Nurses Association President Enock Dongo said, “Nurses should immediately refrain from engaging in such unscrupulous acts. Government services are supposed to be given to the public for free. The association does support criminal activities at work”.
Dongo also said there was a need for the Government to ensure an adequate supply of the cards at all times so that there is no room for exploitation.
Combined Harare Residents Association director Reuben Akili said, “The creation of fake shortages by public health professionals was worrying. We have been working together with the city health department to some extent engaging the Home Affairs Ministry on this matter. This also included again the issue of faking the unavailability of birth records. Then at the end of the day, people are fined”.
Corruption has been rampant in the council-run local authorities, with this publication having exposed some of the scams. Some women who gave birth in Glen View, Mabvuku, and Highfield suburbs claimed that health personnel at the clinics were demanding bribes to issue birth records.
Council officials were said to be demanding kickbacks ranging between US$5 to US$10 to issue birth records for newborn children which thus hindered many from accessing the critical birth certificates. Further allegations were that the clinic health personnel were also creating an artificial shortage of birth record books as a deliberate strategy of forcing desperate mothers to offer bribes.
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