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Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
RUNNING the Gwanda Provincial Hospital has become a “nightmare” for management with the institution reeling under a debt of $400,000, an official said.The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Pugie Chimberengwa, told Chronicle: “It has become a nightmare to run the institution. We now have a debt of about $400,000 because most of our patients fail to pay for services.”
He said the hospital was owed more than $240,000 in unpaid medical bills and could not cope with the ballooning debts to service providers.
Dr Chimberengwa said the institution was operating under a constrained budget and last year the government only released $73,000 to the hospital out of the $440, 000 it had promised. While some health institutions have resorted to sending debt collectors to recover monies owed to them, Dr Chimberengwa said such an option would burden patients, mainly from rural areas.
Dr Chimberengwa urged the business community to chip in and assist the hospital. “One of our major challenges is that we are not enjoying so much of corporate support though some banks have come in,” he said.
In an effort to try and improve service, he said plans were underway for the hospital to introduce a private ward which would also benefit pregnant women. The initiative will see the establishment of a private ward, a medical centre, surgical ward and an executive ward.
The approach is meant to attract business to the hospital and cut costs for patients who usually travel long distances to places like Bulawayo seeking private services. Dr Chimberengwa said the hospital required $40,000 to carry out some renovations for the private ward. “Since we are a non-profit making entity what we are trying to do is to harness the money from those who can afford so that we can get a better service for those who cannot afford,” he said.
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