Zimbabwe Hospital Charges Women $5 In Hospital For Screaming During Labor

One can imagine the pains at childbirth, the screams, sweat, veins popping, tears and someone just bursts into the labor room and tells the woman to pay because the hospital is irritated at her noise making- awkward!

At a hospital in Zimbabwe, the Global Corruption Barometer, a group that campaigns against corruption, released its annual report, revealing that a Zimbabwe hospital exploits poor new mothers by charging them $5 every time they scream. The charge is said to be...

for ‘causing false alarm’, according to the report.

Zimbabwe is a poor country and is in economic and political turmoil, so this $5 cost is untenable in a country where $50 is one third of the average income and 95 percent of people in the country are unemployed.

Transparency International contacted the Deputy Minister in Zimbabwe, who ordered an investigation into the charges, and ordered that no additional fines be charged. However, the charge for giving birth at a hospital is still $50, far out of range for most women in the country. As it stands now, many of the women avoid hospitals altogether due to cost.

The group has now set up workshops in Zimbabwe to raise awareness about corruption. Sadly, Zimbabwe is not alone. According to the group’s report, more than a quarter of the world’s population has paid a bribe at least once.