Chiwenga rubbishes claims of ‘long planned procedure’ in private hospital

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has dismissed claims that he was on Thursday admitted at the Trauma Centre in Borrowdale, Harare for what was described as a “long-planned procedure”.

In a video shared by Presidential Spokesperson George Charamba, the 65-year-old retired army general admitted that he checked in at the private hospital but not for any treatment.

The media has reported that Chiwenga was due to have surgery to correct some discomfort in his stomach.

But the VP said he had gone to see the new equipment and ideas his unspecified brother was investing in.

“They forget I’m Minister of Health,” Chiwenga said.

“I went to see new ideas and new equipment. My brother wants to do open heart surgery. What’s wrong with people? I should never visit a friend who has got a surgery or a clinic or a hospital. Now, how do I visit my hospitals?”

Chiwenga has a history of going either to China, Dubai or India whenever he gets sick.

In 2020, Chiwenga told a media post cabinet briefing that government officials would not be allowed to travel outside the country to seek treatment.

“We will not export our patients. We will not make referrals (to foreign medical facilities) for our patients. It’s everybody.

“Ministers are only about 20 but those who have been going out it’s you, you, me, altogether. That export bill was too high and that’s what we want to curtail.

“We want to do away with that, and it requires us to carry out restructuring from the village health worker right up to the quaternary hospital,” he said.