HARARE – Econet billionaire Strive Masiyiwa is donating 45 ventilators to Zimbabwe as the country braces for a winter explosion of coronavirus cases.
Health experts say Zimbabwe’s hospitals are woefully unprepared for a major outbreak, and the government has been accused of understating cases which stood at nine on Sunday, with one death.
Ventilators are vital equipment in serious coronavirus infections, and help patients breathe while they recover from the virus which causes a disease known as Covid-19.
“Because of the huge demand, this machine is now almost impossible to get even if you have money to buy. The waiting list with producers runs into months.It’s also not something you can just produce, because of the technology and the supply of parts for it,” Masiyiwa wrote on Facebook.
Masiyiwa, through his Higher Life Foundation Zimbabwe, did not say how much the machines had been bought for, although prices have ranged wildly between US$15,000 and US$45,000 as countries compete to give their citizens a fighting chance.
Masiyiwa called on business leaders in every African country to “come together, and set up funds to buy this life-saving equipment.”
He added: “Don’t just wait for governments.”
The telecoms tycoon said the ventilators would be shipped “before the end of the month”, it is thought from China.
“This is a drop in the bucket, in terms of actual requirement, so I hope groups like mining companies, bottling groups, banks and others will follow our example. This is a not a crisis in which you ‘sit on your hands, and provide running commentary’,” Masiyiwa said, crediting his mother for the counsel.
Zimbabwe has one referral centre for coronavirus cases – Wilkins Hospital in Harare – but the facility had no ventilator until a donation a week ago.
The revelations about the country’s lack of preparedness have seen regime officials scrambling to equip private facilities which are expected to admit the country’s political, business and military elites.
