Low-cost rural clinic offers solace to patients in impoverished Zimbabwe

Mount Darwin's Karanda Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe offers sought-after healthcare in a collapsing public health system.

Outside a hospital in rural Zimbabwe, scores of people wait patiently under trees or inside small tents for news of their loved ones.

Vendors sell snacks, fruits and drinks to drivers queuing at the gates of what has become an unlikely sought-after healthcare destination in the impoverished southern African country.

Zimbabwe’s public health system has all but collapsed under years of mismanagement, amid shortages of funds, staff, medicine and equipment.

When in need, those who can afford it, including government Ministers, fly overseas to seek treatment.

Some check into private, but relatively expensive clinics in Harare. Many others make the trip to Mount Darwin, a small village in the parched countryside about 200 km north of the capital and home to the Karanda Mission Hospital.

Funded by the Evangelical church of Zimbabwe and run by three North American doctors, the hospital originally set up to cater to rural folks has built a reputation as one of the best in the country.