Chronicle Editor
Yvonne Ncube, Chronicle Reporter
AN inspection team is expected at Ekusileni Medical Centre today to assess if it can start operating after Government on Tuesday announced that the medical facility which has been designated as a Covid-19 centre is now 90 percent complete.
Plans are now at an advanced stage to reopen the hospital with a 50-bed capacity which will further boost Bulawayo province’s fight against the pandemic.
The institution whose buildings are owned by the National Social Security Authority (Nssa) has experienced several false starts since last year.
The health facility, which was supposed to be a specialist hospital, is a brainchild of the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo.
Speaking during a post-Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the medical centre’s infrastructural works are nearing completion.
“At Ekusileni Hospital, infrastructural works are 90 percent complete,” she said.
In an interview with Chronicle yesterday, the acting chief executive officer of Ekusileni hospital Dr Absolom Dube said the institution is ready to start but is still awaiting inspection from the Health Professions Authority (HPA).
“Ekusileni is ready to start operations but that would only happen after inspection by the Health Professions Authority. The inspection and assessment will be done tomorrow (today) and it is only after that inspection that a decision will be taken,” he said.
Dr Dube said they intend to start with a 50-bed capacity and increase the capacity later.
He said the hospital will initially admit Covid-19 patients only.
“The hospital will be attending to Covid-19 related emergencies only but in future will offer other health services,” said Dr Dube.
He said he was optimistic that the hospital will be opening soon.
The Bulawayo City Council’s Director of Health Services Dr Edwin Sibanda referred questions to Dr Dube and acting Bulawayo Provincial Medical Director Dr Welcome Mlilo who could not be reached for comment.
Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital, the United Bulawayo Hospitals and the Roman Catholic-run Mater Dei Hospital are the health institutions admitting Covid-19 patients in Bulawayo. — @SeehYvonne.
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