Zimbabwe’s health sector is broken beyond repair. For 45 years, ZANU PF has been in power, and now the country is watching its hospitals collapse. What was once a proud system is now a disaster. A shocking image shared widely shows a patient’s broken limb wrapped in a cardboard box and tape — not by choice, but because the hospital had no plaster. This is not just a failure. It is an insult to every Zimbabwean.

This image tells the story of a country going backwards. Hospitals no longer have basic supplies. Medicines are hard to find. Even something as simple as painkillers or bandages can be out of stock. Doctors and nurses are leaving the country in large numbers. Why? Because the government is not paying them well and does not care about their working conditions. Now, Zimbabwe is left with very few skilled medical workers — and even fewer specialists. Our hospitals have become places where people go to die, not to get better.

The problem is deep and long-standing. In 2008, the country faced a cholera outbreak that killed 4,288 people. The disease spread fast because the health system was already weak. You would think Zimbabwe would have learned from that. But between 2023 and 2024, cholera came back — and this time, it claimed another 700 lives. How many more must die before this government takes responsibility?

Zimbabwe’s hospitals have no real funding. The government doesn’t provide enough money. Instead, the country depends on foreign donors to survive. Without help from countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Sweden — who send money through the Health Development Fund, managed by UNICEF — there would be no hope. This fund helps provide care for mothers and children, but it cannot support the whole system. It is not enough.

Other international groups like the Global Fund and United Nations Population Fund also help. But they focus mostly on specific diseases — HIV, malaria, and maternal health. They cannot carry the full weight of a collapsed health system. And now, things are about to get even worse. The United States, once a major supporter through its PEPFAR programme, is cutting back its funding. That means many people who depend on free HIV treatment will be left in danger.

In rural areas, the crisis is even more painful. People walk long distances to reach hospitals, only to find there are no medicines, no doctors, and no hope. Zimbabwe is facing not just one crisis, but many — from HIV to tuberculosis, to rising cases of cancer and high blood pressure. But the government does nothing. It watches as people die from conditions that are treatable — simply because there are no tools, no medicine, and no will to help.

This is not just a health crisis. It is a leadership crisis. ZANU PF has failed. The image of cardboard used in place of a plaster cast is more than a symbol — it is a warning. Zimbabwe is collapsing. The health sector is a mirror showing us how far we have fallen.

Forty-five years of ZANU PF rule have taken Zimbabwe back to the Stone Age. Back to a time when people suffered in silence. If nothing changes, more will die. And the blood will be on the hands of those in power.

Zimbabwe needs leaders who care. Leaders who invest in hospitals, not luxury cars. Leaders who protect lives, not loot national funds. Until then, the suffering will continue — and the health system, like the country, will remain broken.