Blood Pressure Patients Fail to Get Pills on Polling Day

By Own Correspondent

Karoi – Several Zimbabweans struggled to get through the election day because they had run out of their weekly allocation of Blood Pressure (BP) tablets and could not get more because Monday, July 30 had been declared a holiday and pharmacies were closed.

A snap survey conducted by VoteWatch263 on polling day revealed that the majority of people suffering from elevated Blood Pressure had not managed to get more pills before pharmacies closed down, the weekend before the elections.

Sekai Maganga of Tengwe Estate travelled from her resettlement farm about 50 kilometres to Karoi town only to find most pharmacies closed and that the few that were still open had run out of tablets.

“I came here to get my weekly allocation of tablets but the pharmacies were all closed in Karoi town.  I buy the tablets on a weekly basis because I can’t afford to get enough for the whole month,” said Maganga.

She said she tried another pharmacy in the high-density suburb of Chikangwe but found the pharmacy had run out.

Zimbabwe has a large population of people suffering from High Blood Pressure and most of them take Nifedipine tablets as part of medication used to manage the condition.

Maganga added that “I was told the tablets would be available in three days because they had just ordered more. I have to take the pills twice a day and I’m worried that I will end up in hospital due to failure to take the medication at the specified times.”

Another Hurungwe resident, Dickson Hungwe said he did not get medication during elections because pharmacies closed before he could buy the pills.

“It is unfortunate that these elections will have a negative bearing on our health and some might even die. Strict adherence to taking medication is required for people with our condition,” said Hungwe.

Hypertension also is known more commonly as BP is one of the silent killers among the majority of Zimbabweans currently facing economic, social and political instability.

According to a local doctor treatment and control of hypertension can reduce the incidence of complications such as stroke or heart disease, heart failure as well as kidney failure