$5million Umzingwane hospital on course

Tendai Bhebe, Sunday News Reporter
THE construction of a $5 million new district hospital in Umzingwane District, Matabeleland South Province is underway with the contractor already on site carrying out geo-technical surveys, an official has said.

In an interview, Umzingwane acting District Medical Officer Dr Cleophas Kira Makonese said land has been identified and a site plan was already in place.

“Construction of the hospital is still at the planning stages as the contractor is at the hospital site. The land still needs to undergo inspection by the surveyors. So far, we can confirm that the money for the hospital construction is now in the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s account awaiting site plans.

“The land also needs to be transferred into the Local Government’s name. As you know this hospital is going to be built on donated land which was donated by the Cameroons family,” he said.

Dr Makonese expressed gratitude to the Government for availing funds for the construction of the hospital.

“We also want to thank the Government for its timely intervention to our plight by availing funds for the hospital construction. The Umzingwane community is eagerly awaiting this hospital.

“For so many years they have been promised that a hospital is going to come. This year we finally got the hospital in the blue book. This is a great thing that the Government did for us,” he said.

He said the new hospital will help villagers access modern health facilities. “The community will have modern health facilities as there would be more departments, wards for admission with provision of privacy, and other specialised services such as a theatre, x-ray, dental scan, physiotherapy, burns ward and the intensive care unit (ICU),” he said.

The current Esigodini District Hospital was built in 1945 as a Sexually Transmitted Infections clinic intended for farm workers.

The hospital space is limited for expansion as it is sandwiched between a railway line and private properties in the form of farms. The hospital has not developed from its original structure of 1945 and therefore it does not meet the standards of a district hospital. The hospital is a 58-bed institution with eight beds at the maternity wing, 10 paediatric beds and 40 adult general all squashed in five small wards.