Mid-Level managers are Destroying Zimbabwe's Health Sector

Zimbabwe's health sector is in critical condition, unfortunately no amount of propaganda or spin can change the facts on the ground. The problem with our health care system is not because of lack of funding, policy, or political will but because of greed and gross negligence by a network of mid-level managers who have turned public healthcare into a racket.

Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals was trusted by even the highest echelons of government. The late Edson Zvobgo received care there. Today, senior government officials run to private clinics because they no longer trust the system.

And who is to blame? Not the President. Not the Minister alone. But a corrupt and indifferent group of managers within the Ministry of Health.

These mid-level managers are the true saboteurs of public healthcare. Instead of ensuring access to essential services for the average Zimbabwean, they run a parallel economy based on bribes and kickbacks.

The public service commission has deployed individuals that are morally unfit to run the Ministry of health and other health related entities.

Today if you want to verify your nursing qualifications you require £2,000 under the table. A place at the School of Nursing will set you back $1,000. Registering a clinic requires $5,000 none of it receipted, all of it pocketed by a network of individuals who work together. They are running an underground tollgate at the entrance of our health system.

Another batch of gangsters are the senior management running government hospitals , Parirenyatwa, Harare Hospital , Chinhoyi etc. While patients go without medicine and food, these managers live well. At Parirenyatwa, executives reportedly have to beg for basics like mealie meal to feed patients yet their own fuel, salaries, and allowances are untouched. How does a hospital CEO preside over empty cupboards while his car tank is always full?

These are people who were hired and are paid by the taxpayer to manage our health sector. Yet they expect the President to micromanage their jobs. They are failing to perform even the most basic administrative duties, forcing high offices to intervene in tasks that should be handled by professionals on the ground. In doing so, they are giving the President a bad name. They tarnish the image of leadership with their laziness and self-interest.

The public sees the broken hospitals and assumes government doesn't care but the real culprits are right there, within the Ministry, drawing salaries while letting the system rot. The Minister, Deputy Minister, Permanent Secretary and other top officials are not blameless either. Their silence and inaction make them complicit. They have allowed a mafia of mediocrity to thrive under their noses.

Enough is enough.

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Office of the President must act decisively. This is not just about inefficiency it is about criminal negligence. Corruption in the health sector kills people. We may never know the full story behind General Rungani's death, but if what his daughter said is true, then the system failed him like it fails thousands of ordinary citizens every day.

Minister Mombeshora must rise to the occasion or make way for someone who can. The health sector cannot be rescued through press statements or workshops. It needs a purge. It needs consequences. Someone must crack the whip and it must be done now.

Zimbabweans deserve a health system that serves them not one that exploits them.