BMJ  2008;336:1461 (28 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.a539

News

Zimbabwean doctors see big rise in cases of trauma in wake of political violence

Owen Dyer

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Zimbabwe’s doctors have been overwhelmed by the burden of serious physical trauma in recent weeks, as thousands of opposition supporters have been systematically beaten by militiamen loyal to Robert Mugabe.

The Zimbabwean Association of Doctors for Human Rights reported last week that its members had seen 1007 such patients during May, of whom 119 had fractures, in many cases multiple or compound fractures.

"There has been a gross surge in both the quantity and severity of injury. Fracture cases alone increased threefold in number from April to May," the association reported in an email sent to supporters abroad. "It is certain that a far greater number of patients will have been attended to by other members of the health professions, especially nurses, but will never have been near a doctor."

Opposition activists and civic groups complain that Zimbabwe’s public hospitals have done little or nothing to aid victims of political . . . [Full text of this article]


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