War & Health

I am a first generation American from Zimbabwean parents, and so the recent events in Zimbabwe have had a particular personal significance. On April 29th, the Times Online reported on the growing evidence Zimbabwean government officials, including the Minister of Health, are using the nation’s health system to facilitate violence against opposition supporters. Accusations include using hospital grounds for political rallies, threatening physicians treating opposition victims of violence, raiding medical wards, and seizing patient lists. Opposition members have reportedly resorted to seeking treatment at sympathetic private clinics.

As evidence of increasing government-sponsored violence against the Zimbabwean opposition mounts a pattern is emerging of deliberate attempts to obstruct medical treatment for its victims and to cover up the violence. The Zimbabwean Minister of Health and other doctors who are linked to the ruling party have been implicated in orchestrating the violence and using government medical facilities for their activities.

The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee (my new hero) experienced this first hand in May when himself and other diplomats were detained for 45 minutes after visiting hospitals outside the capital to document violence against opposition supporters.

The diplomats involved in the incident at a roadblock on the edge of the capital, Harare, had just completed a tour of hospitals and an alleged torture camp when police demanded they prove they had official permission to visit the sites.

At one point, a police officer threatened to beat one of Mr. McGee’s senior aides. The officer got into his car and lurched toward Mr. McGee after he had demanded the officer’s name. The car made contact with Mr. McGee’s shins, but he was not injured.

Mr. McGee climbed onto the hood of the car while his aide snatched the keys from the ignition, then the diplomats used their mobile phone cameras to take photographs of the officer.

Zimbabwe’s healthcare system is already in deep trouble and these reports do not make me hopeful for the country’s health prospects in the future.