adminTHE Government has with immediate effect taken over Ekusileni Medical Centre in Bulawayo as the hospital has been failing to operate as a private entity since its inception 13 years ago, Sunday News can reveal.
Announcing the takeover yesterday in Bulawayo, the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa, said it was a Cabinet decision to allow the Ministry to take over the hospital.
“This development is based on a Cabinet decision which mandated the Health Ministry to take over Ekusileni Medical Centre and this is because of the delays that have been occurring that have prevented the hospital from opening,” he said.
The delays, he said, have impacted negatively on the people of the Matabeleland region who should have benefited from the hospital’s services. The Minister had a meeting with the board of Trustees of the Zimbabwe Health Care Trust where he briefed them on the decision by Cabinet.
“I have conveyed the message and the trustees are happy. They unanimously agreed and pledged to further assist the Ministry in its objective to operationalise the institution. We are more than ready to begin working too,” he said.
The Health Minister said the hospital is going to open not as an ordinary institution, but as a specialist hospital as per its founder, Dr Joshua Nkomo’s dream.
“It makes little sense to open a hospital just like the ones around Ekusileni, so it will open as a specialist institution for various ailments that will assist the people of this region greatly just like Dr Nkomo always wanted as he felt the people of Matabeleland had no specialist services that were available to them at an average cost,” he said.
Asked on how the Ministry was going to run the medical centre, Dr Parirenyatwa said they were hoping for a Public Private Partnership to start the project. He said they were now waiting for the company that had set up at the institution to vacate the premises. A health board will also be set up and the Minister said it will include one of the trustees so as to keep Dr Nkomos’ vision alive.
The chairman of the Zimbabwe Health Care Trust, Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, who was also at the meeting, said he was impressed with the move to have the Health Ministry taking over.
“I am more than happy with the move; it is a welcome development and we are looking forward to the hospital being operationalised as soon as possible,” he said.
The Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare has also been directed by Cabinet to proceed with the implementation of the resolution. In a communiqué to the trust, the Minister, Cde Prisca Mupfumira, noted that they were trying to protect and implement the wishes of the late VP Nkomo.
She said the National Social Security Authority has already been instructed to hand over Ekusileni Medical Centre to the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
“With immediate effect any issues to do with the operation and administration of Ekusileni Hospital should be directed to Government through the Ministry of Health and Child Care,” she said.
A South African company, Phodiso Holdings, was contracted to run the hospital by the National Social Security Authority.
Online Reporter