Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
GOVERNMENT plans to decentralise the training of health specialists to district level to capacitate health facilities and enhance access to health services.
At present doctors and specialists are trained mostly at central hospitals and tertiary institutions in major cities and towns.
Training of general nurses and other low tier service providers are trained at even district and mission hospitals.
Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro who was in Hwange recently said Government is redefining the health system as it plans to deploy at least five medical specialists to a district facility.
He said trainers will be going down to district hospitals to train personnel.
Dr Mangwiro implored local authorities to help attract doctors and specialists to the countryside by providing them with accommodation or housing stands.
Some civil servants shun areas where there is poor or no accommodation.
“We want to be sending specialists, at least five to 10 to a district hospital. The training of doctors and specialists has to change, we are now changing the system and we will be asking trainers to come down to where trainees are so they get to know the actual requirements and demands for training on the ground. Procedures will be done here at district level,” said Dr Mangwiro.
He said the new training approach will help improve service delivery across the country and also reduce the hassles and costs for patients as they will no longer be forced to travel long distances to referral hospitals in major cities.
In the southern region Mpilo Central Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals which are both in Bulawayo, are the referral hospitals.
There are provincial hospitals in each province, which also act as referral centres for communities from surrounding districts but many patients seeking specialist health care travel to central hospitals or outside the country.
Matabeleland North is the only province without a provincial hospital while Hwange also has no district hospital as 5-Miles District Hospital’s construction has been dragging for more than a decade.
The Catholic-run St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane acts as a provincial referral while another Catholic institution, St Patrick’s in Hwange, Hwange Colliery Hospital and Victoria Falls Hospital also act as district referral centres for Hwange.
Residents of border towns such as Victoria Falls usually cross to neighbouring countries to seek medical care.
Dr Mangwiro said decentralising training and deployment of specialists will reduce the number of people seeking specialist health care in other countries.
He said this was the time to build district hospitals.
“As local authorities let’s build accommodation for doctors. This is the way we want to go. We need to change the approach and once we have specialists there will be no need to send people to Harare and Bulawayo and even Zambia, to seek medical services.
“We will also be receiving 50 ambulances at the end of August and another 50 in November which will be distributed to needy areas, but we need to have specialists on the ground,” said Dr Mangwiro. — @ncubeleon
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