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Herald Correspondent
The National Aids Council (NAC) has initiated a programme called Friends of Banket Hospital to raise funds to rebuild the hospital, which was gutted by fire last month.
The fire razed down a pharmacy, rehabilitation centre, data capturing unit and also destroyed nearly 75 percent of the hospital’s medical stock except for antiretroviral drugs.
NAC has since started engaging well-wishers to help raise about US$158 000 that the hospital needs for construction, medicinal stocks and related materials.
The appeal has since attracted pledges from well-wishers, with one providing 30 disposable gowns and 300 washable face masks.
NAC’s communications director Ms Madeline Dube said that the initiative was part of their corporate social responsibility.
“Although helping with infrastructural development is not our core business, we have always given a hand whenever we could as part of our social responsibility,” she said.
“We understand that ART drugs were not destroyed during the inferno, but we would want patients on ART to access all medical services under one roof as a measure to cut cost on travelling and user bills,” she said.
Ms Dube pleaded with the business community to join the noble cause aimed at helping the Banket and Zvimba communities.
She said due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown regulations that were restricting movement of public vehicles, her organisation was providing mobile ART drug deliveries to the patients in low-lying and marginalised areas.
Online Reporter