My time here continues to confront me with the vast chasm separating the first and third worlds. Whoever coined those phrases should surely have thought of a more accurate phrase. My experience living in first world Tilburg for three months has shown me that life here is a thousand times removed from life in third world Zimbabwe. In those three short months, the standard of living for millions in Zimbabwe has deteriorated substantially.

When I first arrived here I was sent to a spotless, modern, well-equipped medical facility for the mandatory TB x-rays. This week I visited my local doctor to have my blood pressure checked. He was a cheery fellow, whose friendly chatter immediately put me at ease. Together with an efficient and pleasant staff, modern equipment and fancy computers, he immediately won my total confidence. I was once again overwhelmed by the privilege of being able to spend a year here when I read the news from home that evening - that doctors at the major hospitals have resorted in desperation to tearing up curtains to use for bandages.

There are very few doctors left. Like the majority of Zimbabwean professionals in every field, most have left the country of their birth in search of a decent life for their families. Those who remain are overworked, stressed and underpaid. Frustrated by the lack of equipment, bandages, essential drugs, support staff, protective clothing, etc., they have no time to be cheerful or to chat reassuringly with their patients.

It was not always like this. In the early 1990s Zimbabwe’s health service was the envy of Africa, and a regional centre of excellence, to such an extent that former dictator Laurent Kabila was flown from neighbouring DRC for treatment in Harare when he was shot. Today that health service lies in ruins - destroyed by bad government policies and rampant corruption.

In an ironic, indictment against this tragic state of affairs, President Mugabe was rushed to hospital in South Africa when he collapsed last weekend.

Hospitals have become places of death and many are now deserted. The medical insurance industry is in chaos. Thousands of Zimbabweans have learnt that the premiums they paid over the years are now worthless. Shortages and the black market have pushed the cost of basic supplies such as saline and injections, not to mention drugs, way beyond the reach of even the middle class. Sophisticated equipment in private clinics lies idle for want of spare parts or consumables, such as X-ray plates.

Private health care does still exist but only the top one percent of the population, including of course the ruling elite, can afford it. I was appalled to read of a tragic situation outside one government hospital where sick people huddle on the doorstep, as if hoping that the proximity to medicine would heal them. Inside, rows of empty beds are made up with fresh linen and nurses slump on stools, waiting in vain for a patient who can afford treatment.

The WHO estimates that the average life expectancy of Zimbabweans has dropped to 36 years. If that is the case, I’m living on borrowed time already!!


All columns by Wilf Mbanga

Wilf Mbanga, one of the founders of the independent Zimbabwean daily newspaper "The Daily News", is currently living in Tilburg, the Netherlands. He writes about the differences between Tilburg and Harare. His column is printed weekly in "Het Brabants Dagblad".