Kwekwe city council to build infectious diseases centre

Freedom Mupanedemo Midlands Bureau

Kwekwe City Council is set to construct a state-of-the-art infectious diseases hospital, which will be the second of its kind in the country after Wilkins in Harare, acting town clerk Mrs Lucia Mkhandla has said.

In an interview, Mrs Mkhandla said the preparatory work for the new hospital had already started.

“All the designs and plans for the infectious diseases hospital are now in place and the engineering department is already on the ground developing the place,” she said.

“We have also started stocking building materials like cement and bricks for the construction work to begin.”

Mrs Mkhandla said the local authority was taking advantage of devolution funds allocations to construct the hospital, which she said will go a long way in easing pressure at Wilkins Hospital.

“At the moment, we have been using our own funds for the project, but we are happy that Government under the New Dispensation introduced devolution,” she said.

“We will be channelling most of our devolution funds allocation towards the construction of this hospital which we want to be a state-of-the-art hospital in line with the smart city concept that we are pursuing.”

Mrs Mkhandla said the local authority was also open to donors who were willing to partner them in setting up the health institution.

“We want to put up a modern infectious disease hospital with everything in place so as the local authority, we are open to partners, we would like to work with the partners and donors in the construction and equipping of the hospital,” she said.

Meanwhile, Midlands provincial Affairs Minister Senator Larry Mavima commended the local authority for embarking on the infectious hospital project.

He said devolution funds were meant to benefit the poor and urged the local authority to expedite its projects.

“These are the kind of projects that local authorities are expected to take up using devolution funds,” he said. “The money is meant to develop our cities, so I urged Kwekwe City to take the project seriously.”