Source: Covid-19: Turning hardships into gains | Sunday Mail (Top Stories)
Mtandazo Dube
IT is said one must “never waste a good crisis” and that “necessity is the mother of all invention”.
But could anything good ever come out of a situation like the Covid-19 crisis, a disease that has thrown the world’s most advanced health systems into disarray and left the best scientific minds at sea?
Zimbabwe, like the rest of the world right now, finds itself in the throes of the novel coronavirus.
The country enters day 15 of the Covid-19 national lockdown tomorrow, reeling from the economic impact of the shutdown, among a myriad of other challenges.
It is easy to give up hope and bemoan the never-ending problems bedevilling this young democracy.
But it is also possible to turn this crisis into an opportunity.
For instance, take the words by President Mnangagwa at a meeting between Government and the private sector on Thursday last week, where he said: “This pandemic has led Government to realise that we sometimes spend time and focus on going outside the country when the skills and knowledge are inside the country.”
This must be a wake-up call for every Zimbabwean, more so those charged with making decisions on behalf of millions of their compatriots.
President Mnangagwa’s timely observation of the skills and expertise required to get Zimbabwe out of not only the Covid-19 crisis but many other problems, paints him, correctly so, as a dynamic, flexible and listening decision-maker and leader.
Said the President: “I think from now on, we should, as Government, change our strategy in modernising and industrialising our country by supporting our own institutions with less borrowing from outside the country. There is a lot that can be done by our people if they are assisted and given support to develop needs which we need as a country to push forward.”
Innovation Hubs
Globally, there is a shortage of ventilators. One would imagine that it must be impossible for “poor Zimbabwe” to find its own solutions in that regard.
But after successful testing and demonstrations, last week Mr Tinashe Mutema, communications and international relations director at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), told The Sunday Mail that their team had managed to automate a locally manufactured ventilator the institute has been working on and expected the gadget to be fully functional “in a matter of days”.
“There are things we are perfecting. We were supposed to have called journalists and other stakeholders in for the final testing this week (last week) but we have made some adjustments like making it an automated machine as opposed to manual. We should be done by end of this week,” said Mr Mutema on Wednesday.
He said they hoped the value chains created would not let them down in their quest to produce 40 ventilators per day.
“In terms of capacity, it remains the same, 40 machines per day. The capacity we are talking about is human capital — the bio-medical engineers, machine design people, and instrumentation and control. It’s a multi-disciplinary team working on this project,” he said.
Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) is producing at least 3 500 face masks daily.
The National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) last week took delivery of 10 000 units of hand sanitisers, hand wash, surgical theatre caps, overshoes, aprons and face masks from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ).
According to Mr Zealous Nyabadza, NatPharm acting operations director, they expect to get the same quantities from UZ every two days.
Bindura University, Great Zimbabwe University, National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Midlands State University are now all producing personal protective equipment (PPEs).
NUST has also been roped in by Government to do laboratory testing for coronavirus specimens, while UZ is expected to produce intravenous fluids.
The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, Professor Amon Murwira, commended the universities, saying these were “the fruits of the re-orientation of our higher and tertiary education towards innovation and industrialisation”.
If these innovation hubs, barely a year old, can produce essentials needed in our health institutions, why was this concept not being pursued vigorously before?
Why did paediatrician Dr Azza Mashumba weep in front of cameras for basic medical sundries if Zimbabwe has all this capacity?
Health facilities
As Government ploughs ahead with decentralisation of Covid-19 testing and isolation centres in the country, including capacitating hospitals in different provinces to handle complicated health cases, the situation in Zimbabwe’s health institutions can only get better.
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals is now running on boreholes, a lot of them, and is also receiving medicines, PPE and food.
These are largely efforts by the Government in partnership with locally based Zimbabwean companies and a few international organisations.
Ekusileni Hospital in Bulawayo, which has not operated since it was completed in 2004, is set to become one of the country’s top health facilities thanks to its designation as a coronavirus referral centre.
The 369-bed health facility has the potential to become a regional specialist centre.
A further 21 health institutions in Bulawayo have been identified for capacitation and are set to be used during and after this crisis.
Harare City Council-run Wilkins Infectious Diseases Hospital has already been spruced up and is on its way to becoming a top-notch medical facility.
St Anne’s Hospital — one of the top health centres in Harare before its sudden closure in 2016 — will be put to good use during this crisis and hopefully be turned into a centre of international repute.
According to the Covid-19 taskforce team, decentralisation of health facilities and preparedness of response teams at district level is progressing well.
“… the thrust by His Excellency President Mnangagwa (is) that the fight against Covid-19 demands a decentralised approach. Government is currently equipping provinces and districts to ensure that there is a robust response mechanism,” said Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa.
Talent is also in abundance.
This is the country of Dr Solomon Guramatunhu, a specialist eye surgeon, and Dr Bothwell Mbuvayesango, who was part of the team that separated the conjoined Chitigo twins in a complex eight-hour delicate surgical procedure in 2014.
Generally, Zimbabwean doctors and nurses are highly sought-after worldwide.
Some of them are at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 in countries like the US and the UK.
Dr Monalisa Muchatuta, for example, is an emergency medicine specialist and is working on the frontline in the fight against the pandemic in the United States.
In addition, Caps Holdings is reportedly producing 80 000 chloroquine tablets and is set to increase its production once it receives raw materials.
The company is also producing 40 000 units of hand sanitisers a day.
Zimbabwe has an opportunity to transform itself through in-country solutions and not always hope for and wait for investors.
This is the chance to ensure no one ever has to seek medical services in foreign lands for procedures that can be done locally.
Cutting imports
Like President Mnangagwa correctly indicated, there are talented men and women producing equipment being used in mining activities and other heavy machinery industries operating from Gazaland, Highfield and Magaba in Mbare.
There are garment manufacturers in Graniteside exporting industrial apparel to Europe yet local companies continue to fly to Asia to import the same.
Quest Motors (Mutare) and Willowvale Motor Industries have the capacity to produce cars, including heavy-duty vehicles for decades, yet local companies, including Government departments, prefer to go across the Limpopo or overseas destinations to purchase their fleets.
This cannot be allowed to continue.
Surely, everyone must realise that importing between US$5 billion and US$8 billion worth of goods annually, some of which could ordinarily be manufactured locally using home-grown resources, is plain irresponsible.
Continuing to import fruits, toothpicks, natural and artificial hair, dairy products and other agricultural goods and clothing is unacceptable.
This is Zimbabwe’s chance to substitute imports — be it skills, raw materials or finished products — with home-grown solutions.
Adding impetus to the medical sundries import substitution programme are the defence forces and police, who have volunteered to produce PPEs at their factories.
“Zimbabweans have been forced out of their comfort zones, and true to the adage that ‘success begins when one leaves their comfort zone’, some real accomplishments are beckoning,” said banker Mr Mlamuli Dube.
He added: “We have been in a crisis for a long time but we did not treat our situation as such. What we need to do going forward is continue in crisis mode long after Covid-19, stop wasting our precious foreign exchange on luxuries, and goods and services that can be found locally — that is the only way to get not just our economy but our society working again.”
Sheltering the homeless
Highly vulnerable members of society like the homeless have been rounded up and given places to temporarily call home. A place in Mt Hampden has become home to men who have been living on the streets, boys have been moved to Ruwa Rehabilitation Centre while females are housed at Jamaica Inn along Harare-Mutare Road.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Professor Paul Mavima said the homeless were at high risk of contracting Covid-19 since they lack sanitary resources required to fight the devastating disease.
“Homeless people in Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and across the country should be placed in shelters where they can be monitored,” said Minister Mavima.
Every nation must have a strategy for its most vulnerable.
Of course, Government has unveiled over $600 million for vulnerable families, but surely these street dwellers, too, must be taken off the streets for good.
City Councils’ rude awakening
The Harare City Council is taking advantage of the absence of both human and vehicular traffic in the capital to do some road markings and carry out other works.
However, they have not done enough.
Bus termini are dirty and this could be a good opportunity for the city fathers to clean them, unblock drainage systems and do some paint jobs where required.
City, town and rural councils nationwide must rethink their approach to what a market is and what it should look like. This includes the health and safety standards.
Mbare Musika was closed till Tuesday last week.
The local authority could have taken the opportunity to spruce things up a little. Ensure proper registrations of stall owners, address issues of hygiene, water and sanitation.
This also goes for those vendors that will want to return to the central business district after the lockdown.
But that could be an opportunity missed.
Borehole repairs are also ongoing in the various areas of Harare. Why was this not being done all along? The point is: The city councils, including Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, and Mutare must take advantage of this crisis to assess their self-sustainability and improve service delivery.
Sanctions, debt relief
The Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe last week added its voice to the growing calls for the illegal sanctions imposed against Zimbabwe to be lifted in order to afford it a fair chance in the fight against the coronavirus.
This followed a similar plea by the United Nations to the G20 countries.
President Mnangagwa even had a high-level engagement with Heads of State including African Union chair and Manuel Macron of France where, again, the issue of sanctions was raised.
Surely, if these sanctions, which have hurt ordinary Zimbabweans for almost two decades can be lifted, would that not be one of the greatest accomplishments borne out of this crisis?
Assuming that numbers of coronavirus cases on the continent rise to almost half-a-million by early next month, as is being predicted, health systems in Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa would be overwhelmed.
So, Zimbabwe will inevitably need access to foreign exchange to offset the negative trade caused by lack of movement in the global economy. The country also needs help when it comes to its foreign debt.
But, currently, Zimbabwe is not receiving any financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank owing to legacy obligations to the latter.
Zimbabwe should be able to emerge out of this crisis with the unavoidable scars of Covid-19, but better placed to rebuild its economy, health system, education sector and other capacities without being weighed down by heavy legacy burdens, and unwanted and unhelpful economic sanctions.
Way forward
It is said that success is built on failure, frustration and fears that one has to overcome. The coronavirus has provided a perfect opportunity for Zimbabwe to overcome its fears of failure — the country needs solutions and no one is saying whoever tries to bring forth a solution must not fail.
The prototype ventilator by HIT might encounter a few hurdles along the way, but it does not mean that the engineers working round the clock at the institution’s labs trying to provide this country with solutions must stop trying.
Far from it, they should try harder and never stop regardless of whether there is still a crisis or not by the time they complete their project.
Harry S. Truman — the 33rd US president, credited with implementation of the post-World War II European economic “miracle”, the Marshall Plan, and subsequent creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) — once said “a pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.”
So, will the people of Zimbabwe and their leaders be pessimists that make difficulties of their opportunities or will they be optimists and make opportunities of their difficulties?
So far, the situation the ground points towards an awakening by every sector — be it private or public.
The nation definitely has some good wind in its sails despite the tragic unfolding of the mammoth Covid-19 crisis.
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