Author: Kuda Pembere

Doctors/PSMAS Clash Over ‘Witch-Hunting’ Exercise

Kuda Pembere

THE Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association (MDPPZA) has expressed dismay over a witchhunt on its members who are being arrested for overdrawing from Premier Service Medical Aid Society’s (PSMAS) with some instances for overcharging an amount as measly as ZW$1 000 for services. By Kudakwashe Pembere Working with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), the medical aid service provider instituted a blitz against doctors on fraud allegations. In an interview with MDPPZA president Dr Johannes Marisa, PSMAS is claiming medical services providers were using wrong tariff codes, a…

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Stunting, Wasting and Overweight drops in Zim

Kuda Pembere

ZIMBABWE has been doing relatively well in improving the nutrition for children under five years over the past ten years as it reduced the stunting prevalence to 21.6 percent in 2022 from 31.1 percent in 2012, a joint United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and World Bank report shows. By Kuda Pembere For stunting Zimbabwe is in the high threshold. As for overweight, in 2012, the southern African country had a prevalence of 4.6 percent decreasing it to 2.7 percent in 2022 with a low threshold. The prevalence rate for wasting…

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Zim faith healers fingered frequent buyers of vultures to lure congregants

Kuda Pembere

By Kuda Pembere Birdlife Zimbabwe has engaged faith healers registered under the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe (TMPCZ) following its findings from a market survey it did that vultures or parts thereof were being used for crowd pulling, clairvoyance, to mention but these. BirdLife Zimbabwe is an association which advocates for the protection and wellbeing of birds. In Zimbabwe which is home to six species of vultures found across the world, they learned in a survey they did with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) that vultures…

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MCAZ procures state of the art microbial identification system

Kuda Pembere

THE Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) has added to its laboratory equipment, a microbial identification system which will help the Authority in identifying bacteria and fungi. By Kuda Pembere The Authority in a statement said they acquired the state-of-the-art Vitek 2 XL Microbial Identification System. “We have acquired a state-of-the-art microbial identification system, the Vitek 2 XL Microbial Identification System (MIS) and therefore are able to in the position of the identification of bacteria and fungi. This is crucial in many industrial applications including environmental monitoring, contamination investigation and…

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WHO preps 44 Zim government officials to deal with SA ZEP returnees’ mental health

Kuda Pembere

FORTY-four government officials received mental health and psychosocial support training from the World Health Organization ahead of the return of about 180 000 returnees from South Africa who had Zimbabwe Exemption Permits. By Kudakwashe Pembere With the deadline for the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits expiry looming, mental health disorders such as depression and even drug and substance abuse among others are anticipated. Zimbabweans reportedly make up South Africa’s largest group of immigrants, with about 800,000 living in the country, many for decades but not all of them legally and doing low…

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Faith healers register in hoards following TMPCZ directive

Kuda Pembere

OVER 1 100 faith healers with others still coming in have heeded to the directive of registering with the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe (TMPCZ), HealthTimes has learned. By Kuda Pembere In March, the TMPCZ issued a notice ordering the registration of faith healers in order to obtain practicing licenses.  This comes on the back of a directive by the Ministry of Health and Child Care that all faith healers and herbalists from both churches and traditional religion should be bound by a set of regulations in line with…

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Health Ministry receives cholera medication and consumables from WHO

Kuda Pembere

The Ministry of Health and Child Care Friday received from the World Health Organization (WHO) a consignment of cholera medical equipment, medication, and some sundries for use in the fight against the epidemic which has to date seen over 300 cases recorded in Zimbabwe. By Kuda Pembere Also donated was a motor vehicle for use in the battle against mental health disorders in the country. The handover ceremony was held at the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm)’s mega-warehouse. The Health and Child Care Ministry Permanent Secretary Air Commodore Jasper Chimedza lauded…

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SAT holds fun-run for adolescents

Kuda Pembere

THE Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Africa Trust (SAT) on Saturday brought SRHR services as well as health and wellbeing activities at Westgate Shopping Centre. By Kudakwashe Pembere Youngsters were joined by adults in a 10 kilometre fun-run. SAT Zimbabwe Country operations manager Mrs Hamida Ismail- Mauto in an interview said the fun-run was meant to raise awareness on SRHR services to adolescents. SAT just hosted a fun-run or a fun-walk. We were targeting adolescents and young people as a way to raise awareness on access to SRHR  services and then also encourage exercise…

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Hand-in-Hand Initiative to turnaround Zim’s agri-food fortunes

Kuda Pembere

THE Hand-in-Hand initiative is expected to proffer solutions that will enhance mobilization of targeted investments and innovation to transform Zimbabwe’s agri-food sector. By Kudakwashe Pembere This was said by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa, FAO Representative for Zimbabwe, Lesotho and eSwatini Dr. Patrice Talla Takoukam on Friday during the last day of the Agrifood Investment Forum. “The defining characteristics of the Hand-in-Hand Initiative including fostering stronger partnerships, use of advanced data and analytical tools, spatial planning will shape our discussions over the next two and…

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Zim, Egypt medical products regulatory authorities sign MOU

Kuda Pembere

THE Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) and the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen the countries’ ties in the regulation pharmaceutical and medical products as well as trade thereof. By Kudakwashe Pembere Officiating the signing ceremony was the Vice President of Zimbabwe and Health and Child Care Minister Dr Constantine Chiwenga. Also present during the signing ceremony was the EDA delegation led by its Authority chairperson Professor Professor Tamer Essam, the Egyptian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ms Salma Mowafi as well as MCAZ board…

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