admin
Conrad Mupesa
Mashonaland West Bureau
Mashonaland West will have two isolation units for Covid-19 patients, with the recent commissioning of the isolation centre in Chinhoyi and the first district centre in Karoi expected to be ready tomorrow.
Two more centres in Chegutu and Alaska are being worked on, but provincial authorities want that work speeded up and then further district centres brought into the system.
Mashonaland West development coordinator Mr Josphat Jaji said during the commissioning of Chinhoyi isolation centre that this unit would be the province’s referral quarantine centre and had been brought into service through help from the central government and other well-wishers.
The focus was now being put on Karoi district isolation centre.
“I have been informed and assured that Karoi district isolation will be ready for commissioning by this Wednesday (tomorrow),” said Mr Jaji.
“The institution will be the second to be commissioned in the province within a short space of time.
“However, some of the centres that are still to be completed include Chegutu and Alaska.
“The two are still far from completion and we want to ensure that progress is met so that work is expedited.”
The provincial task force team’s next target was that of completing Chegutu isolation unit before focusing on other isolation centres, including those in the rural areas and Makonde Christian Hospital.
Mashonaland West Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Mary Mliswa-Chikoka said the completion of the Karoi centre would lessen the burden on the Chinhoyi isolation centre.
“Chinhoyi isolation centre is the provincial centre, meaning it will be overwhelmed by patients, hence the completion of Karoi isolation centre is a step in the right direction towards the fight against the virus,” she said.
Minister Mliswa-Chikoka said the completion of the isolation centres dovetailed well with President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 which seeks to provide citizens with good health care services.
Even when Covid-19 is defeated, having units that can offer higher levels of care, and which can be used for treating infectious diseases, significantly boosts health services.
While the Government, through the department of public works, is turning some of the already existing wards at these institutions into isolation centres, resources to create negative pressure and installing piped oxygen remains a challenge.
Negative pressure means that air cannot blow out of the wards, contaminating surrounding areas.
Well-wishers, including mining giant Zimplats, last year donated ventilators to Chinhoyi, Chegutu and Norton hospitals which are also key in the running of an isolation centre and Minister Mliswa-Chikoka pleaded with the corporate world and well-wishers to assist the centres with advanced equipment that is used in emergency and life-saving cases.
Provincial equipment procurement officer Mr Mathias Chaima said there was a massive drive to ensure that the required materials and machinery were secured so that the isolation centres were fully functional.
Acting Mashonaland West provincial medical director Dr Tapiwa Dhliwayo called for timely disbursal of funds for similar Covid-19 wards under construction at Chegutu district hospital and satellite centres — Mhangura and Alaska.
Online Reporter