Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai focused attention on the crisis in the country's health care system with a tour of Harare Central Hospital where he Health Minister Henry Madzorera were briefed on the problems facing the institution.
In a less-than-veiled criticism of the previous government of President Robert Mugabe and his long-ruling ZANU-PF party, Tsvangirai told journalists covering his visit to the institution that the hospital's problems are the result of neglect and underfunding.
He said the government should be able to come up with the US$1.5 million needed to address the hospital's most pressing needs.
Correspondent Sylvia Manika of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reported from Harare.
Following his tour of Harare General Hospital with the prime minister, Dr. Madzorera spoke with reporter Patience Rusere, saying cholera remains an enormous problem for the country though noting a somewhat encouraging decline in new cases reported.
Just under 3,900 people have died of cholera since the epidemic took hold late last year. A United Nations mission which concluded an assessment of the humanitarian crisis in the country this week said conditions remained "grave," promising $500 million in aid.
