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Peter Matika Senior Reporter
MPILO Central Hospital yesterday evening resumed surgical operations, after managing to procure clinical supplies from other hospitals, in a desperate bid to resume operations, which were temporarily put on hold due to a shortage of clinical supplies. The hospital’s chief executive officer, Dr Lawrence Mantiziba, said they had managed to procure supplies from United Bulawayo Hospitals and Mater Dei, which would likely last until tomorrow.
“I dispatched the chief pharmacist here to UBH and Mater Dei to borrow medical supplies, so as to ensure that operations at the hospital are resumed. Things are back to normal and we want to assure the public that Mpilo is working again,” he said.
Dr Mantiziba said the hospital had already engaged a private contractor, who would constantly supply the hospital with drugs and other essential surgical materials to ensure that the hospital functions to its fullest capacity.
“We managed to get enough stocks to last until Monday, thereafter we will be relying on a contractor whom we have already engaged to supply us with drugs and other hospital material,” he said.
Surgical operations at the hospital had been temporarily stopped about a week ago after the hospital’s stocks ran out.
The temporary suspension came to light, after our sister paper, Chronicle, broke the story and having managed to track down a 54-year-old woman from Maraposa Village in Umguza — Sibusiso Giyani — who was reportedly turned away from the hospital, while on the verge of a surgical operation.
Mpilo is one of the biggest medical referral institutions in Zimbabwe. It has about 12 theatres, which are all reportedly failing to fully function due to a shortage of medicine and surgical supplies.
Mpilo caters for patients from the city, as well as referral cases from the country’s southern region including the Midlands, Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Masvingo provinces and the host province, Bulawayo metropolitan.
The hospital is reportedly owed about $16 million by clients, a development that has forced it to engage debt collectors in an effort to recover the funds to revive its operations.
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