Chronicle Editor
Thupeyo Muleya, [email protected]
A NEW clinic in Mazunga, about 60km from Beitbridge, is on the verge of opening after passing a recent standards and conformity inspection conducted by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
The facility will serve communities in resettlement areas of Ward 14 and motorists travelling along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo Highway.
The Mazunga Clinic boasts a range of essential healthcare amenities, including a maternity wing accommodating over 12 women at a time, a pharmacy, a mothers’ waiting shelter, an environmental health section, male and female wards, an outpatient department and a standard emergency room.
The project, a collaboration between local businesses, the Beitbridge Rural District Council (BBRDC) and the community, converted a former farmhouse into a modern clinic.
BBRDC’s acting chief executive officer, Mr Peter Ncube said they encountered delays in opening the facility to the public after the Ministry of Health and Child Care pointed out some grey areas that needed attention.
“We are ready to open and have addressed all the necessary issues as advised by health experts. This clinic will be a relief to people in Ward 14 and travellers along the Beitbridge-Bulawayo Highway,” said Mr Ncube.
“As it stands we are waiting for official communication from the Ministry of Health and Child Care so that we open the facility”.
Mr Ncube said they are also building more clinics in other wards to increase access to healthcare across the district.
“We are also working on repairing the ceiling at Dumba Clinic in Ward 2, which also needs electrical connections before opening. Tshabili Clinic has been opened and we are repainting it pending its commissioning soon,” he said.
“Our idea is to build more clinics in all the wards to cut the distance some people are walking to access health facilities.”
In Ward 14, Mr Ncube said they have put up a piped water scheme to service a school and the community in the Mudzwiti area, which relies on a solar powered borehole.
Beitbridge district medical officer, Dr Lenos Samhere expressed satisfaction with the clinic’s civil works, recommending its opening while minor issues, such as repairing broken floor tiles are addressed.
“We have done our part and we are happy with the improvements at the Mazunga Clinic hence we have made a recommendation for it to be opened to the public while Beitbridge RDC works on addressing minor outstanding issues such as fixing broken floor tiles,” he said.
“The council will make the final arrangements on staffing and the day for official opening”.
Dr Samhere said the opening of Mazunga Clinic brings to 18 the number of clinics in the district.
Mazunga Clinic project chairperson, Mr Alfred Makhomo Moyo said the opening of the facility will address the plight of locals most of whom walked 15km or more to access medical attention in other clinics.
“We saw a gap in public health services in our farming area, which is also strategically located along a major highway. Pooling resources with our council and local businesses, we transformed a farmhouse into this clinic,” said Mr Moyo.
He said medical equipment was being donated by well-wishers, while infrastructure modifications, painting and plumbing have been completed.
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