city misses cabins deadline

Faith Phiri
BULAWAYO City Council has failed to meet the deadline for installing porta cabins at 10 municipal clinics in Bulawayo to use as consultation rooms and waiting areas for patients receiving antiretroviral drugs and tuberculosis treatment.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care, with funding from the United States Centre for Disease Control (CDC), had offered to put up porta cabins at 10 municipal clinics and council had welcomed the offer and identified the clinics to receive the cabins.

The council senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, said their plan was that the porta cabins should have been delivered by the end of March.
“The pre-fabricated porta cabins could not be delivered as planned due to shipment delays as they were being imported from overseas.The pre-fabricated porta cabins will be installed as soon as they reach Bulawayo”, said Mrs Mpofu.

The clinics targeted under the programme are Cowdray Park, Princess Margaret Rose, Dr Shennan, EF Watson, Njube, Mzilikazi, Pumula, Pumula South, Luveve and Nketa.

“Cowdray Park Clinic, Princess Margaret Rose Clinic, Dr Shennan Clinic were chosen because they were deemed to be the most affected in terms of space although in terms of patient volumes they are not the busiest. Clinics will get a two-roomed cabin each, though Cowdray Park may get two as it is severely short of office space, said Mrs Mpofu.”

According to council minutes, the Director of Health Services Dr Zanele Hwalima reported that the number of patients accessing city clinics had increased tenfold over the past few years.

The clinics, which were built long ago, were therefore no longer adequate for service provision in terms of space.