CHRA Urge City of Harare To Increase Health Workers in Harare Polyclinics.
Pauline Chateuka
Combined Harare Residents Association known for advocating for residents’ rights, has in its survey shown that there is shortage of health personnel at council polyclinics to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.
This, CHRA believes has contributed to the hesitancy by residents to visit the clinics and get vaccinated as they will have to spend the whole day in queues.
“We also want to be vaccinated, everyone wants to be safe from this deadly virus but there is need of adequate staff at polyclinics so that we won’t spend the day at queues” said Chingasieni Machona a resident from Highfields.
Polyclinics have two nurses each and these nurses are failing to manage the pressure as they will be attending to patients besides administering the COVID-19 vaccine. At the moment they are vaccinating twenty people per day leading residents to wake up as early as 2am to be the first 20.
At this rate it is hard to imagine if government will achieve its expectation of 60 percent of the country’s population to be inoculated by end of the year.
“Cases of robbery are increasing each day especially with the coming of this virus a lot of people have lost their jobs. One has to wake up as early as 2am so to be part of the first 20 to be vaccinated which is not safe for women and girls” said Mrs Anania a Harare resident.
CHRA calls on the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the Harare City Council to work together to recruit more health personnel as the country is facing a surge of COVID-19 cases which requires adequate health workers to administer the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccine to residents.
