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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
MASVINGO Provincial Hospital will be upgraded into a university teaching hospital to enable medical students at Great Zimbabwe University undertake their clinical studies since the hospital serves as the provincial health referral centre.
This follows a directive by President Mnangagwa, who last year commissioned the GZU’s Simon Mazorodze School of Medical and Health Sciences, paving way for the university to enrol an inaugural group of 23 medical students.
GZU became the fourth State-owned university, after the University of Zimbabwe, National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Midlands State University(MSU), to offer training in medicine and health sciences as the country moved to ensure it trains enough medical professionals to meet its needs in line with the quest to become an upper middle income society by 2030.
The school of medical and health sciences was named after Zimbabwe’s first Minister of Health at independence and national hero, Dr Simon Mazorodze, who hailed from Masvingo province.
There have been growing calls for the Government to upgrade Masvingo Provincial Hospital to offer services that are commensurate with a full referral hospital and its impending upgrading into a university teaching hospital will help answer those calls.
Permanent Secretary for Health and Child Care Dr Aspect Maunganidze yesterday said that his ministry and the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development had moved to upgrade Masvingo Provincial Hospital into a university teaching hospital with modern and advanced facilities.
The development was at the instigation of President Mnangagwa and should have been completed by the time the initial batch of GZU medical students go for their clinical studies in three years’ time.
‘’This would involve upgrading of the infrastructural, human resources, clinical and supportive services, laboratory and radiological services, to a level befitting both a provincial level and a university teaching hospital,’’ said Dr Maunganidze.
He noted that the two ministries were working together to make sure President Mnangagwa’s vision of upgrading Masvingo Provincial Hospital is speedily achieved.
Transforming Masvingo Provincial Hospital into a university teaching hospital will improve the health delivery system in the province and is in sync with the Second Republic’s mantra of leaving no one and no place behind.
Over the past few years there have been calls for authorities to even consider building a new provincial health referral institution to replace Masvingo Provincial Hospital.
Most medical emergencies requiring specialist treatment are still being referred to either Harare or Bulawayo making it costly for patients.
The recent completion of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway upgrade project also further increased the need to upgrade Masvingo Provincial Hospital to cope with more emergencies in light of the anticipated boom in vehicle traffic which raised the spectre of accidents.
Online Reporter