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Patrick Chitumba /Nduduzo Tshuma Senior Reporters
MPILO Central Hospital received a major boost yesterday after it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with three Indian hospitals that will enable the institution to conduct specialist diagnostic operations and perform complicated operations including transplants.The Indian hospitals namely Artemris, Fortis and Mendanta also signed an MoU with the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) that will see senior Indian doctors lecturing at its medical school.
Mpilo chief executive officer Dr Lawrence Mantiziba said the agreement was going to enhance service delivery at the hospital, which is saddled with many challenges, chief among them, financial constraints and a serious manpower shortage.
“Ladies and gentlemen under this arrangement the three Indian consortium hospitals that operate under the flagship of Medi Consultants shall avail Mpilo Central Hospital a whole range of specialist services from diagnostic to the most complex transplants,” said Dr Mantiziba.
“Furthermore, senior Indian doctors would be coming in as professors at the National University of Science and Technology Medical School.”
Dr Mantiziba said the MoU was a milestone in the country’s health care delivery system as under the program, Mpilo, which serves the country’s southern region, would be developed to become a centre of excellence in health care services.
“Mpilo Central Hospital will become a tertiary centre with the whole spectrum of services right from diagnostic to the most complex transplant surgeries. There will be institutes of various specialists that will be instituted in such a fashion that these would be diagnostic, medical, interventional, surgical knowledge enhancement programs within the specialties,” he said.
Dr Mantiziba also said Mpilo would be transformed into a tele-medical centre with Indian hospitals for routine tele-radiology, tele-pathology, online surgery boards, online tumour boards and therapy boards.
“Mpilo will become the leading health care initiator as this arrangement will be the first of its kind in the whole of Southern Africa. This is the first kind of arrangement between hospitals in the region.”
Dr Mantiziba said the MoU came after two years of negotiations.
“We travelled to India in September last year as part of the process that culminated in the signing of the MoU and we are happy with the arrangement,” he said.
Head of Global Medi Consultants Vikesh Khetarpal said Mpilo would return to its glory days when it was the envy of many in terms of health delivery.
“We aim to develop medical facilities here to the point of it surpassing what it was before – a leading referral hospital in the country,” Khetarpal said.
He also said the initiative was meant to reverse the brain drain and restore confidence in local health institutions.
Nust assistant vice chancellor Lameck Sithole said public private partnerships were the way to go for the development of the country.
“We are now on our third intake at the medical school and this MoU with Global Medi Consultants will go a long way in assisting us produce medical experts,” he said.
Cancer treatment is one of the challenges facing Mpilo and only last week Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr Paul Chimedza told parliament that his ministry was pushing for increased taxation to fund cancer treatment.
He said the government was seized with mobilising resources to fund early cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment.
Dr Chimedza proposed increased taxes on items like alcohol and tobacco, which he said were major sources of cancer.
He revealed that chemotherapy for six sessions cost about $678 while surgery cost $630 with radiotherapy pegged at $5,675.
“The total cost for one patient would be $6,983. If you add everything with other treatments, the grand total will be $13,000,” said Dr Chimedza.
“If we subsidise it at 50 percent the government will need to pay $6,749 per patient. In 2011, cancer registry reported 916 new prostate cancer cases and the treatment again costs $7,800.”
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