adminTawanda Mangoma in CHIKOMBEDZI
Chikombedzi villagers have welcomed plans by a Switzerland-based organisation, Furrer Foundation, to set up a nurses’ training school at the local mission hospital.
The hospital, built during the liberation struggle, serves as the referral health institution for the entire Chikombedzi and Limpopo Valley.
Communities here have been calling on Government to open a nursing school at Chikombedzi to allow school-leavers from the predominantly Shangaan tribe in the Limpopo Valley to be trained as nurses.
Construction of Chikombedzi Nursing School is set to start soon with the building of a water line from an aquifer near Mwenezi River to ensure uninterrupted water supply.
Dr Lea Furrer-Schimper, daughter to Dr Katherin and Matthias Furrer, the founders of the Furrer Foundation, said her parents were touched by recent press reports about deteriorating standards at Chikombedzi Hospital.
She said the Furrer Foundation wanted to restore the institution’s yesteryear glory and expand its horizons to cope with new trends in the medical field.
Dr Furrer-Schimper, who is stationed at Chikombedzi as the institution’s medical doctor, said everything was in place for the foundation to start building the nursing school.
“There is a foundation in Switzerland which is interested in carrying out projects in Zimbabwe,” she said. “The foundation is currently doing some work in Zambia and I have also invited them here so that they start a nursing school project.
“They were, however, undecided on where to establish it, though I eventually directed them to Chikombedzi. They just need to see if the community is interested in the project.
“They want the project to be owned by the community, so there is need for the community to form a committee and write a proposal, stating why they want a nursing school and how they will also help towards its construction.”
Dr Furrer-Schimper said the project would solve pressing challenges dogging the Chikombedzi community for years.
“Water levels are low in Chikombedzi Dam and borehole water is not suitable for a hospital,” she said. “I think this is the right time to find alternative water extraction points for the hospital and surrounding schools, and later to the community.”
The Furrer family last visited Chikombedzi two years ago and promised to come back to help the community on various developmental projects.
They spend most of their time in African countries, working in rural areas at small hospitals.
Their main focus is enhancing lives of people living in rural areas through the provision of improved services like health and education.
Online Reporter