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Zimbabweans and the people of Bulawayo in particular, who have been anxiously waiting for the re-opening of Ekusileni Hospital in Bulawayo, have now lost hope. The Medical Centre built at a cost of about $4 million in 2000, has been lying idle since then. Many dates have been given for the re-opening of this state- of-the-art medical facility funded by the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) but nothing has materialised.
The 200-bed hospital which is supposed to provide specialist medical services, is the brainchild of the late Vice-President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo. Cde Nkomo who died in 1999 was not happy that the country did not have a health facility providing specialist healthcare services despite the fact that it had the required specialists thereby forcing people to seek such services outside the country. The continued closure of the hospital is therefore a cause for concern.
On Thursday the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Cde Nicholas Goche, toured the hospital. Cde Goche said he was discussing with NSSA and other stakeholders to see when the hospital could be opened. Cde Goche said it was a pity that the hospital remained closed yet a lot of money was spent on constructing it. He said the President, Cde Mugabe, had wanted the hospital to be commissioned at the same time with the refurbished Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport and the unveiling of Cde Nkomo’s statue and renaming of Main Street after the late national hero last December. Cde Goche said the hospital could not be opened at the envisaged time because there was a lot of work which needed to be done before the hospital could be opened to the public.
The re-opening of the hospital which operated for just seven months before its closure in 2004 after it was discovered that the equipment bought for the hospital was obsolete, has taken too long. Many dates have been given for its re-opening and as such people have lost hope of ever benefiting from the facility which was built using public funds.
The NSSA general manager, James Matiza, recently told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare that repeated efforts by the authority to have the hospital opened by the Zimbabwe Health Care Trust (ZHTC) hit a brick wall. He said the trust last year informed NSSA that it had raised $12 million for buying equipment and just needed an additional $6 million for operational costs. The government should therefore push hard for the re-opening of this institution which will not only serve Bulawayo but the entire country.
Many Zimbabweans that need specialist medical services are dying because many of them cannot afford to seek such services outside the country. The country has through NSSA invested a lot of money into this hospital project and it’s nearly 13 years without benefiting from such a huge investment. We have said it before that this hospital will benefit both the public and private sectors hence the need for both sectors to pool resources together.
The government and the private sector should join hands to mobilise the required resources so that the people can start benefiting from this hospital which when fully operational will have 13 departments and has the potential to increase its capacity to 265 beds.
Many medical aid societies are spending thousands of dollars every year paying for members seeking specialist medical services outside the country yet these services could be provided locally once this hospital is opened. We want to once again implore Cde Goche to continue to push for the re-opening of this hospital which is long overdue.
Online Reporter