…hospital in dire state
Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI-With the sugarcane farming town being popularized as the economic hub of Masvingo province, Chiredzi General Hospital is in a dire state, with shortages of basic equipment which has seen some women delivering on the ground due to shortage of delivery beds in the maternity wing.
The health institution is a referral centre for more than 30 clinics as well as Chikombedzi Mission Hospital and between 300 and 500 women reportedly deliver their babies there every month.
Human resources is also reported to be low as hospital personnel has been having an exodus to the United Kingdom for greener pastures.
This emerged at a recent service delivery meeting hosted by United Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Association (UCHRRA) at Turf Gardens with various stakeholders in the health sector.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care, which was one of the key stakeholders gave feedback on the cumulative Covid-19 cases, the vaccination status as well as major developmental health issues and challenges being faced by the district.
One of the panelists from the Ministry of Health, a Matron Teukai Badza indicated that though Chiredzi General Hospital is a referral hospital to 31 clinics as well as Chikombedzi Mission Hospital, they only have 35 beds for its maternity wing with five sections including deliveries, which has two beds, neo-natal ward with four beds, post-natal, anti-natal and post-surgical wards.
“It is true that we have limited resources such that women are delivering on the ground because we only have two delivery beds though we have an approximate of 300-500 deliveries per month.
“We also have shortages of human resources. From January this year up to now, we have lost a number of nurses as some are going to the United Kingdom, others to Non-Governmental Organizations. So as residents, let’s put our heads together to make our hospital a hospital of choice,” said Matron Badza.
District Medical Officer (DMO) Doctor Brian Dhlandhlara challenged local corporates and sugarcane farmers to complement government efforts towards the refurbishment of the referral hospital as other towns like Zvishavane and Kadoma where there is an abundance of certain natural resources.
“Kadoma General Hospital is one of the remarkable government hospitals together with the one in Zvishavane due to the involvement of the community in the maintenance process. This is because the towns are rich in gold like ours, which is proclaimed to be the economic hub of the province due to the production of sugarcane. Our hospital is in a sorry state and it is the face of our town which visitors first see before anything else when they visit Chiredzi,” he said.
District Development Coordinator (DDC) Lovemore Chisema indicated that there is need for people to be organized in order to develop the hospital.
“We have various companies idling to help, but they can’t just come and render their help where it might not be necessarily needed, they need to be approached in order to yield intended results. As public officials, we should also be endowed with a spirit to serve our community first before anything else.
“UCHIRRA is only there to remind us of our roles in the community, they are not a nuisance,” said Chisema.
