Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
Mpilo Central Hospital has bemoaned a shortage of equipment which has resulted in the institution transferring patients to Harare hospitals when is it is supposed to be the referral centre for southern parts of the country.
The hospital is a referral centre for patients from Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South, the Midlands and Masvingo.
Speaking at a handover of wheelchairs for Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South hospitals by Lodzi Hunters in partnership with a United States based organisation in Bulawayo yesterday, Mpilo Central Hospital chief executive officer Mr Leonard Mabhandi, said the situation was untenable.
Matabeleland North Provincial Minister Cde Richard Moyo received the 22 wheelchairs at an event held at the hospital.
Mr Mabhandi said the hospital, without partnering its stakeholders, cannot provide effective health care to its clients.
“Our fight is to make this place a centre of excellence. When people are referred to Mpilo, the principle is that when a patient is referred here, they must either go back home after recovering, but if that fails unfortunately you should also die here,” he said.
“Those are the two options, you should die here or go back home. But because of a number of challenges that we are facing, we sometimes have to refer people to Harare. I won’t bother you with the details but I have informed the Minister (Cde Moyo).”
Mr Mabhandi said some of challenges include lack of diagnosis and treatment equipment and the situation is exacerbated by a shortage of foreign currency.
“Even if we have $100 000 in our account and we want to import, say an aesthetic machine, they will say it costs $50 000 and we would say we have the money. But when we go to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, they might say we should wait a bit but that will be at the expense of ourselves providing health care because sometimes we wait for a long time,” he said.
Mr Mabhandi challenged industry to produce some of the equipment required in hospitals saying it was illogical for the country to be importing wheelchairs.
Minister Moyo said it was important for the private sector to partner Government departments in uplifting people’s lives.
“This donation is mainly targeting Tsholotsho and Binga Districts and we know that there are so many people with disabilities in these areas. We want to appreciate the works that have been done by this company and we hope that the private sector can emulate what Lodzi Hunters have done and address the needs of communities they work from,” he said.
Lodzi Hunters operations director Mr Paradzai Nemashakwe promised to bring more wheel chairs among other hospital equipment through his company’s partnership with an American organisation. — @nqotshili
Online Reporter