admin
Herald Reporter
The section at Parirenyatwa Hospital designated as a Covid-19 isolation and treatment centre is now ready to admit and take care of patients.
Renovations at the hospital have been satisfactory with almost all the equipment and accessories required for such a facility now in place, as Government intensifies its preparedness to deal with the pandemic.
Yesterday Health and Child Care Minister Obadiah Moyo, Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo and other high-ranking Government officials toured the centre also known as “Covid-19 Red Zone”.
The tour was meant to assess the state of preparedness of the centre.
The centre houses over 420 beds. The tour took the team to the wards, including the intensive care unit and theatre.
All refurbishment work was found to be completed.
Speaking after the tour, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals chief executive Mr Ernest Manyawu said satisfactory progress had been made but some equipment was still required. “Our theatres are equipped but we are still waiting for more equipment that is coming through from the Ministry of Health and Child Care,” he said. Basically, in terms of infrastructure as a hospital I can say we are almost getting there and we are very grateful to our project managers who managed to carry out the renovations within what we consider to be record time.”
He said the institution will have adequate personal protective equipment and other necessary equipment by the time it starts admitting Covid-19 patients. Government has extended the national lockdown indefinitely with review every two weeks.
Following a rapid assessment of the national health system, 13 hospitals in the country have been designated as Covid-19 hospitals. Each of the 10 provinces have at least one designated Covid-19 hospital while efforts are underway to increase isolation capacity, both within health facilities as well as by using potential community level facilities.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter