Pfende Clinic officially opens five years later

Johnsias Mutonhori, Midlands Correspondent

IT was joy and jubilation as residents of Pfende peri-urban settlement in Gweru last Wednesday expressed gratitude at the official opening of Pfende Habern Park Satellite clinic which brought health services close to the people.

The structure of Pfende which is set to provide service to 12000 people was a beerhall owned by Gweru City Council (GCC) before its conversion into a clinic after an outcry from residents who wanted a medical facility in their area to cut on the eight kilometre distance that they walked to WhaWha clinic.

The project started in 2018 with a US$30 000 injection from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

Member of Parliament for Gweru urban constituency Brian Dube who was the guest of honour applauded council saying such facilities as medical centres were supposed to be prioritised and close to the people.

“As you can see, Pfende is a peri-urban settlement. Most of the residents here are low-income families and they do not afford private hospitals, private doctors and some of them do not even afford bus fare to town for medical attention. Most of the families here eke out a living from farming and other menial jobs which are associated with risk of injuries and exposes people to a lot of health hazards,” he said.

Gweru Mayor Councillor Hamutendi Kombayi said council was moving in line with the national vision of transforming the livelihoods of all as the country strains towards 2030.

“Our council vision is in line with the national vision to be an upper-middle-income economy by 2030, and this project we are officially opening is in line with National Development Strategy 1, which emphasizes the need to improve the wellbeing of the people of Zimbabwe by ensuring affordable, accessible and acceptable quality health services. My council fully commits itself to complementing the government’s efforts to reducing the maternal and child mortality rate and controlling the spread of pandemics such as HIV/AIDS,” he said.

Mrs Rosemary Machekano, a resident who has been staying in the Pfende area for the past 46 years said the distance between their residential area and the nearest clinic was too long especially for the elderly and pregnant women.

“We are happy that now we can access medical attention from a short distance. It was hard for us the elderly and pregnant women who need medical attention on a regular basis. We can’t afford to travel to town on regular basis, let alone pay at private doctors,” she said.

Gweru City Council runs four poly clinics which on average attend to a population of about 20 000 patients per month, and manages 16 000 patients on the antiretroviral therapy programme on a monthly basis. With the expansion of town and its population, provision of services such as medical centres, water supply and ablution facilities have become the new concern to stakeholders.