adminMarvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
CONGESTION at referral hospitals will soon be a thing of the past as doctors at remote rural health centres will be able to conduct minor surgical procedures using available resources, an official has said.A total of 15 doctors and a clinical officer from Matabeleland South Province have already undergone the training under the Zimbabwe Essential Surgical Training (ZEST) programme conducted at Manama Mission Hospital in Gwanda District on Friday and Saturday.
The programme is a pilot project by the Surgical Society of Zimbabwe (SSZ) in collaboration with the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) and the Royal College of Surgence of Ireland (RCSI).
The programme is being funded by the Irish Aid through the RCSI.
Mashonaland East has also benefited from the programme with 18 doctors having been trained recently.
SSZ president Dr Israel Dube said the pilot project was funded to the tune of $98,000. He said Mashonaland East and Matabeleland South were chosen for the pilot project.
He said the trained doctors will be able to undetake it. It is important for all doctors to acquire surgical skills for improved access to health service, adding that Zimbabwe was the first country in Africa to request for such funding. “We have been given $98,000 for the pilot project to see how well this programme works and if we see that it works very well, it would be extended to cover the whole country,” said Dr Dube.
“So far we picked on Marondera and Manama, which we thought would be representative of our population in the country. This decision was reached in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Child Care.”
Dr Dube said performance by participants was impressive.
The training programme comes at a time when the health sector is faced with challenges particularly shortage of specialists.
Patients from remote rural areas have suffered the most with some dying on the way before reaching referral hospitals in major cities.
“Most of the operations are done at central hospitals because that is where the doctors who can do the operations are but what we are doing with this programme is to make sure that there are fewer patients who are taken from where they stay,” said Dr Dube.
“We are trying to reduce the number of patients who are transferred to the central hospitals for surgical procedures,” he said.
Matabeleland South Provincial Medical Director Dr William Busumani commended specialist doctors for supporting junior doctors in rural areas by imparting more knowledge and sharpening their skills.
He said the initiative would also help save the little resources at the district hospitals.
“This programme is meant to impart skills to doctors in remote areas and this will go a long way in reducing referrals,” said Dr Busumani.
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