Govt backs Gweru hospital upgrade

Mukudzei Chingwere Midlands Correspondent
GOVERNMENT is in support of upgrading Gweru Provincial Hospital (GPH) to a central hospital after proposals and recommendations by stakeholders as a way of aiding in the devolution drive being championed by President Mnangagwa, an official has said.

The Second Republic is pushing for decentralisation and the upgrading of provincial facilities is one of the expected changes of making the programme a success.

President Mnangagwa last year proclaimed the distribution of US$31 million to each of the country’s 10 provinces as a way of speeding up the devolution drive. Midlands State University (MSU) recently introduced a medical school and has partnered GPH to help in the development of doctors from the institution. This means GPH has now joined the likes of Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals to become a teaching hospital which qualifies it to become a central hospital.

Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs Cde Larry Mavima said it was of paramount importance to speed up the upgrading of GPH to a central hospital so that it will be entitled to more resources.

“The hospital needs to be turned into a central hospital so that we can upgrade the facilities there and make it more suitable for the training of doctors as well as improve the health delivery system to patients,” he said.

“There are specialists whom are there which I think are enough to provide the requirements by the ministry of health for it to be a teaching hospital and the project has taken-off well.”

At the moment GPH has 17 specialist doctors with eight different specialties and if it is given a central status they will qualify for more specialised personnel. “We are hoping that in the next two or so years it will be a fully-fledged teaching hospital with all the required facilities,” said Minister Mavima.

“I am not sure about the exact requirements needed, but I am told the institution needs to be further upgraded to meet the criteria of being a fully-fledged teaching hospital as it will also help people in the province to access better medical care.”

GPH in recent years has been lauded for its service excellence which has translated to better service delivery and healthcare for patients.

There has also been some infrastructural development which has seen the erection of a new causality department.