GWERU — The corporate sector has been urged to come on board and assist the cash-strapped government rescue the country’s ailing health sector.
EDGAR GWESHE
Health and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa said this during the commissioning of a casualty ward built by Unki Mines (Pvt) Ltd at Gweru Provincial Hospital on Thursday.
Unki Mines also renovated a side ward at the hospital’s children’s ward and converted it into a Renal Unit which opened in January while another dilapidated building was renovated and converted into a cancer screening centre.
Before the construction of the casualty ward, Gweru Provincial Hospital had, since its opening in 1934, a small room that could only accommodate two patients at a time.
Parirenyatwa applauded the corporate social responsibility by Unki Mines and urged other corporates to come on board and complement government’s efforts towards ensuring effective health service delivery in the country.
“We are grateful that this casualty department has capacitated Gweru Provincial hospital to save lives in case of accidents. We hope the hospital would be a model of a centre of excellence. I therefore appeal to many other corporate players to come on board the public-private partnership ship,” said Parirenyatwa.
Gweru Provincial Hospital is a referral health centre for hospitals and clinics in the 13 districts of the Midlands province.
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Parirenyatwa said the government had the task of creating an environment that would attract back medical personnel who flocked to other countries in search for greener pastures.
“We have a lot of Zimbabweans who are well trained, some who may be outside or inside the country. As soon as we have the right environment they will come back and those who are here would stay. We were very glad when the President announced the unfreezing of posts in the health sector. We are very happy that vacant posts that are there now will be filled,” said Parirenyatwa.
Unki Mines chairman, July Ndlovu said the construction of the casualty ward was in line with their objective of saving lives and bringing quality health care in the Midlands province.
“We were very touched by the sorry state of the hospital as it did not have the capacity to cope with emergencies hence our decision to construct this casualty ward. It is our hope that we would continue to implement several projects that would bring benefit to the people in the Midlands province,” said Ndlovu. Unki Mines has also been supporting such initiatives as community food security, infrastructure building skills development as well as water and sanitation.
