Interim post - On the M6 with miles ands miles to go - truck stop
Three
Canadian citizens who travelled to Zimbabwe to visit the Salvation Army run
Howard Hospital have spoken out about their ordeal, after being arrested by
local police.
Dr Paul Thistle
The three, including a former volunteer at the
facility when it was run by the ousted Dr. Paul Thistle, reportedly arrived at
the hospital last month and were “shocked” to see the facility with so few
patients.
“We wanted to go back and see the people, our
friends and get a firsthand account of what Howard was like now as opposed to
what it was like before,” one of the women, Jan Corley was quoted as saying by
Canadian press this week.
Corley and one of her companions began taking
photographs and were about to leave when they were accosted by two male
hospital employees, said to be members of the Zimbabwean branch of the
Salvation Army.
The women walked away but were followed by the
hospital’s administrator who ordered a nearby police officer to arrest them.
All three women were then forced into a Salvation Army vehicle, driven to two
different police stations and held for almost six hours.
The situation has put the spotlight back on the
Howard Hospital saga, over a year since Dr. Thistle was dismissed from the
facility.
The situation at the hospital has deteriorated
consistently since Dr. Thistle’s dismissal, which followed concerns he raised
about financial mismanagement by the Salvation Army leadership there.
The doctor’s removal caused outcry, because of the
work he had done to turn the Howard mission into a highly respected medical
facility. He was also considered a valued member of the community, after living
there for more than 16 years.
His dismissal, which the Salvation Army has
insisted was a standard ‘reassignment’, prompted a backlash from community
members who protested his removal in August. That protest turned violent,
leading to the police arresting scores of residents, as well as eight hospital
nurses. They were all forced to stand trial over two months, and eventually one
nurse was convicted.
The Salvation Army has remained steadfast that
nothing out of the ordinary led to Dr. Thistle’s dismissal, and also insisted
his claims of financial mismanagement at the Zimbabwe chapter of the church
were unfounded.
The Church has also insisted it is fully
committed to the Howard Mission, but SW Radio Africa has been told that the
hospital is in a desperate situation, mainly because key international donors
have withheld money since Dr. Thistle’s removal.
The doctor, a Canadian citizen, was instrumental
in securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in donated cash from different
charity groups across Canada and elsewhere. Without him, the money has been
steadily drying up.
Dr. Thistle meanwhile defied Salvation Army
orders to return to Canada, and has instead remained in Zimbabwe to work at the
Karanda Mission Hospital in Mount Darwin. Since establishing himself there,
thousands of Zimbabweans have flocked from across the country to get treatment
at that facility. SW Radio Africa
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