adminYoliswa Dube Chronicle Reporter
THE Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Prisca Mupfumira says Ekusileni Medical Centre in Bulawayo will be officially opened by August this year. Although installation of medical equipment and other work at the centre is not yet complete, the hospital has been handed over to the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
The government had previously said the institution was going to be opened by mid-2015.
“Installation of medical equipment and other work at the Centre is not yet complete. However, the hospital has been officially handed over to the Ministry of Health and Child Care. The hospital is likely to be officially opened by August, 2015,” said Mupfumira.
“The investor in Ekusileni Medical Centre is Phodiso Management (Proprietary) Limited under the directorship of Dibate I. Lelong and N.S. Matlala. Installation of medical equipment and other work at the Centre is not yet complete. However, the hospital has been officially handed over to the Ministry of Health and Child Care.”
Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko has said members of the public should have access to the hospital to fulfil the dreams of the late nationalist and Vice President Joshua Nkomo, who came up with the idea to set up such an institution.
Situated at the corner of the Old Esigodini Road and Cecil Avenue in Bulawayo’s Hillside suburb, the centre was briefly opened in 2004 but closed after the equipment that was acquired for the institution was condemned.
The institution will have 23 departments and is expected to absorb scores of nurses and doctors who graduated from Mpilo Central Hospital, United Bulawayo Hospitals and the National University of Science and Technology’s medical school.
The upmarket 369-bed hospital facility was built with funding from the National Social Security Authority (NSSA).
Ekusileni was a joint venture between Zimbabwe Health Care Trust (ZHCT) and Netcare, a South African group that provides private healthcare in both South Africa and the United Kingdom.
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