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Mthabisi Tshuma, Chronicle Correspondent
THORNGROVE Infectious Disease Hospital will attend to mild Covid-19 cases while Ekusileni Hospital is expected to attend to serious ones, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Director of Health Dr Edwin Sibanda has said.
Thorngrove Hospital is undergoing renovations with partitioning being done to accommodate one Covid-19 patient per room.
Beds and mattresses are already in place.
In a telephone interview, Dr Sibanda said Thorngrove Hospital will accommodate approximately 50 Covid-19 patients.
He said so far there are no plans to provide ventilators at the hospital since it will only handle mild cases. Dr Sibanda said Ekusileni Hospital will cater for serious cases and Government was going to equip it with ventilators.
“Right now, renovations are going on at Thorngrove and more are going to follow and we hope that they will be finished in time before we get the first Covid-19 patient for admission.
“In that particular ward undergoing renovations, we are going to admit up to 50 people. This is why there is Ekusileni Hospital which will attend to serious cases as the pandemic was declared a national disaster and it’s now a national problem and that is why there was this calling that all hospitals and clinics are under the jurisdiction of the Government,” said Dr Sibanda.
He said council is coming up with a patient mapping plan.
“For the purposes of Covid-19 we have mapped up a patient plan that if you arrive at a council clinic where do you go next if you are a suspected or confirmed case.
“Patients who are presented with the symptoms will be going to be tested according to that protocol of either screening or testing,” said Dr Sibanda.
Addressing journalists after a tour of Thorngrove Hospital and Pelandaba Clinic in Bulawayo on Saturday, the Minister of Local Government and Public Works July Moyo said the rehabilitation of Thorngrove is of paramount importance.
“We must continue to push that Thorngrove is upgraded and all these institutions because of Covid-19 whether run by local authorities or the Ministry of Health and Child Care must be looked at as one delivery system and Thorngrove is considered in that manner,” he said.
Cde Moyo said they have been given a staffing plan for Ekusileni Hospital.
“The Beautiful Bulawayo Trust, a committee formed to spearhead the fight against coronavirus (Covid-19) in the city has given us a plan for staffing and first of all we will look internally.
“All those organisations in partnership here among them Nust, the Bulawayo City Council, the Ministry of Health and Child Care have staffing,” said Cde Moyo adding that the hospital will operate under the Ministry of Health and Child Care. @mthabisi_mthire
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