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| Masvingo Provincial Medical Director Dr Amadeus Shamhu |
Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – When
Vice President Kembo Mohadi, in his capacity as the chairperson of the national
Covid-19 taskforce, toured the Masvingo Provincial Hospital to assess the
progress being made in the construction of an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for
Covid-19 patients in June last year, he was promised that the 21 bed structure
would be completed in no time but the project has stalled at window level.
The ICU
facility was said to be financed by Mimosa Mining Company while the army and
prisons services provided artisans.
During
the tour, Mohadi was told that the ICU would be the first of its kind in the
province and was to cater for severe cases of coronavirus patients.
By then,
Masvingo had recorded a few Covid-19 positive cases and there were no
fatalities but seven months later, the province has witnessed a surge in
positive cases with the latest provincial statistics as at January 18, 2021
putting Masvingo at a total cumulative cases of 1 310.
A total
of 43 people have succumbed to Covid-19 in the province and total active cases
stand at 349 as at January 18.
When
contacted for comment Masvingo Provincial Medical Director (PMD) Dr Amadeus
Shamhu said the ICU centre was nowhere near completion as work had been stalled
by a number of issues mainly material.
“The
ICU centre will not be finished any time soon, there is a lot of material that
is not there for work to continue.
“If you
get in touch with the public works engineers they will tell you exactly why
there is no progress,” said Dr Shamhu.
Minister
of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira, who is
also the provincial chairperson of the Covid-19 taskforce could not be drawn
into comment as his mobile went unanswered but in his previous interview with
TellZim News, Chadzamira said that they were facing challenges to buy the
required material but the money was there.
Presently,
Masvingo is relying on a 10 bed isolation centre which was born out of Rujeko
Clinic.
