Online Reporter
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke-Senior Health Reporter
GOVERNMENT is expanding access to diagnostic services in rural and hard-to-reach areas, with district laboratories widening specimen transport and accelerating the digitisation of public laboratories to reduce delays in testing and communicating results.
The measures are part of efforts to ensure geographical location does not determine whether or not patients receive timely and reliable diagnostic services.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care is focusing on laboratory quality standards, availability of reagents and training of laboratory personnel.
Ministry of Health Director Laboratory Services Dr Raiva Simbi said the ministry was pursuing a multi-dimensional approach to make diagnostic services more accessible, functional and reliable across the country.
“Our strategy is to ensure that access to diagnostics is not determined by distance from major cities. We are taking a multi-pronged approach to make testing accessible, functional and trusted, so rural patients can benefit equally from evidence-based care,” he said.
The ministry was strengthening laboratory capacity at district and provincial level so that fewer specimens had to be referred to distant facilities, while digital systems were being used to improve communication between laboratories and health facilities.
At the centre of the digital transformation is the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), which is replacing cumbersome paper-based processes and linking laboratories to improve the management and transmission of test results.
“The nationwide rollout of the system has replaced cumbersome paper-based processes, with operational LIMS now installed at 117 main laboratories and linked to lower-level laboratories,” said Dr Simbi.
The system allows results to be communicated electronically, including through SMS, meaning patients and clinicians do not necessarily have to wait for physical documents or travel long distances simply to collect results.
The system was also being integrated with conventional high-throughput laboratory equipment, allowing results from equipment to be transmitted directly into LIMS, where they could be verified before being sent electronically to the requesting facility.
The National Health Laboratory Strategic Plan 2025–2030 has set a target of expanding LIMS to 80 percent of health facilities, while the Ministry was exploring the use of artificial intelligence and other digital technologies to further improve laboratory efficiency and accuracy.
The digitalisation programme complements Zimbabwe’s wider health-sector drive to use technology to improve information management and service delivery.
Dr Simbi said laboratory services were a key component of the health delivery system, with the laboratory services strategy focused on accessibility, quality assurance, standardisation and timely results.
However, digital connectivity alone could not solve the challenge of reaching patients served by facilities without the capacity to perform specialised tests.
To address this, the Ministry has expanded the integrated sample transportation system, which moved specimens from lower-level facilities to laboratories where the required tests were available.
The system had achieved more than 90 percent coverage nationally.
“Diagnostics succeed when specimens are collected correctly, transported safely and delivered on time. We have rolled out an integrated sample transportation system to support sample referral in areas where testing is not available at lower-level facilities, achieving over 90 per cent coverage nationwide,” he said.
The system is intended to reduce delays in diagnosis by ensuring specimens collected at primary healthcare facilities can reach laboratories within the referral network instead of requiring patients to travel to facilities where testing is available.
The Ministry was also focusing on ensuring that essential laboratory commodities, including reagents and rapid diagnostic test kits, are consistently available at rural facilities.
Dr Simbi said multi-disease point-of-care testing devices were also being deployed to support testing closer to communities.
“These devices are simple to use yet highly advanced, capable of testing for TB, HIV, HPV and PSA screening, while rapid test kits are already being used at the primary healthcare level to enable early disease detection,” he said.
The expansion of diagnostic services was particularly important for diseases where early diagnosis could determine treatment outcomes and help prevent complications or further transmission.
To improve reliability, the Ministry was focusing on standardising test procedures, strengthening supply chains for laboratory commodities, improving quality management systems and reducing turnaround times.
Dr Simbi said the Ministry had introduced a laboratory certification programme for lower-level centres in collaboration with the Laboratory Scientist Council, while individual laboratories continued to conduct internal quality control.
“We have strengthened management systems in our labs and currently we have 17 laboratories accredited to ISO 15189 to meet international standards. We have also rolled out a laboratory certification programme for lower-level centres in collaboration with the Laboratory Scientist Council and we also run internal quality controls within individual labs,” he said.
Zimbabwe has previously expanded diagnostic services closer to communities through initiatives such as the deployment of portable diagnostic equipment for TB screening in areas without electricity and community-based approaches to cervical cancer screening. The Ministry had used community self-sampling models to expand access to HPV testing in hard-to-reach areas, including Hurungwe.
The Government’s broader digital health programme is also seeking to connect diagnostics with other parts of the health system.
The ministry’s Impilo electronic health records platform is designed to connect care, diagnostics, health records, logistics and other health-system functions within a national digital environment.
For patients in remote communities, the objective is to reduce the distance and time between collecting a specimen, receiving a diagnosis and starting appropriate care.
