Friday, March 29, 2024

Zimbabweans cross border to Zambia to get cheap blood – report

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Harare – Zimbabweans in the north of the country are “crossing to Zambia with cooler boxes” so they can buy blood for sick relatives who need it back home, a Member of Parliament has reportedly said.

In yet more evidence of the crisis gripping Zimbabwe’s public health sector, local tabloid H-Metro quotes the MP for Binga North, Prince Sibanda, as telling a parliamentary portfolio committee: “Relatives have to run with cooler boxes from Victoria Falls, Hwange and surrounding areas to get blood in Zambia because it is way cheaper there.”

Blood supplies in Zambia are apparently one-quarter of the cost in northern Zimbabwe, at around $50 per unit, compared to $200 across the border.

The average salary in Zimbabwe is less than $400.

The cost per unit is sometimes lower in Harare.

The blood is often needed for new mothers or accident victims.

The director of Zimbabwe’s national blood service, Lucy Marowa, admitted blood was cheaper in Zambia, but said that was because it was subsidised by the Zambian government, H-Metro said.

Zimbabwe’s health sector has been in the spotlight recently over a decision by some private doctors to no longer accept medical insurance cards. 

The sector was badly affected by the last economic crisis from 2000-8, when medical staff left in droves and some public hospitals were short of even the most basic drugs. 

President Robert Mugabe last week suggested Zimbabwean doctors were “greedy” for demanding payment, though he himself flies regularly to Singapore for medical attention.

The Zimbabwean newspaper reported late last year that Zimbabweans in the east of the country were crossing the border to seek dental care in Mozambique

11 COMMENTS

  1. We can not condem our brothers and sisters because they are doing the right thing for their people. Zambians went to Zimbabwe to buy batter, Coca-Cola products and blankets. Scratch my back I will scratch yours. Zambia has a mutual relationship with Zimbanwe and we live in the same biome.

    • Do you know Zimbabweans very well? I guess you must be young, you probably just heard those stories.

    • @Chitumbuwa, Zimbabweans will treat you like DIRT soon as they have got what they want. Be careful what you say. I am sure you only just received and drank that Coca Cola and never experienced what it was like to actually procure it. Do not stir a hornet’s nest; some of us stopped going to or using Zimbabwe routes ages ago because of the callousness of those people. Their suffering is paradoxically a result of a mix of cowardice and arrogance…

  2. Zambians we must learn from what is happening across the river in Zimbabwe. U have an illegitimate govt which rigged elections In 2013 but without outside help has failed to fix the Zimbabwe economy. The economy has collapsed with 95% unemployment, no cash, no foreign cash bailout etc . They are now printing worthless bond notes. If we Zambians vote for Lungu the same fate awaits us. We have a chance to vote out this fastest rising dictator and looter called Lungu. Viva HH,GBM & UPND.

    • your analysis is based on deep rooted hatred of the zim gvt.but one thing that we enjoy is peace and not any pone point do you see soldiers and police officers moving in great numbers in town.we are one lets love and understand each others problems life is a wheel

  3. Zimbabwe uses the USD as a local currency after its own Zimbabwe Dollar became worthless as a result of hyperinflation caused by the Mugabe govt printing its currency excessively and recklessly. This is lesson number one to us Zambians. Blood in Zimbabwe is expensive due to the USD pricing while blood in Zambia is priced more cheaply and is even made cheaper by the strengthening of the USD which is USD 1 to ZK12. Lesson number 2 to us is that the Zambian economy needs to be properly managed. U need economic and financial managers to govern and manage the economy of Zambia. Lungu and PF have no capacity and skills to manage the Zambian economy prudently. Lets vote for HH & GBM for a better Zimbabwe.

    • Yeah right – now you will take over another country just so you can rule, right!? HH & GBM for a better Zimbabwe? You are inviting the wrath of Mugabe on yourself…

  4. There is an opportunity for economic diversification. Lets export and earn fake dollar. Round up all street thugs, prisoners and unemployed and harvest the blood and share on 50-50 profit basis.

    Operate the Blood bank like FRA. Once your blood is certified clean, you get paid per litre.LOL

    • @Joseph! This is funny! We will have ‘blood baths’ all over the country in which to collect blood on a commercial scale.

  5. To some people in forum, everything is politics. Look, what does the whole story teaches us? To me it’s an eye opener to the Ministry of Health in that they need to find out who is selling the same blood in Zambia to our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe. Are they using the right channel in as far as these transactions are concerned.

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