Zimbabwe orders nine ox-drawn 'ambulances'

HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 13 (UPI) -- Zimbabwe's Marxist government has ordered nine ox-drawn ambulances, a move an opposition leader says takes the country back to the stone age.

The ambulances will be for use by residents near the capital, the BBC reported Tuesday.

With inflation running at more than 400 percent and unemployment at 70 percent, the health ministry said it needed an economical way to transport patients to hospital.

The new carts will be particularly useful for birthing mothers and children, said David Parirenyatwa, the health minister.

Others, however, are appalled.

"We are going back to the stone ages," said Paul Themba Nyathi of the Movement for Democratic Change.