This is the state of public health maternity wards in Zimbabwe, a total disaster.
This is a maternity ward at Concession District Hospital. It has 18 beds, but at any given time there are around 50 women in there.
This ward is used to accommodate antenatal, postnatal, and C-section mothers, and also women in labour, and others with children who have high temperatures.
There are only three midwives on duty at night, and one nurse aide, yet people are expected to receive standard care.
C-section mothers have to buy their own sundries for the procedure, and those who tear during delivery must buy suture material. The district hospital provides nothing.
This is a referral hospital, yet it is in this state. 2,500 women die giving birth every year in Zimbabwe, and the country’s biggest hospital still has only one maternity theatre, built in 1977 by Ian Smith. 300 babies died during child birth in Zimbabwe in January alone.
