Online Reporter
Robin Muchetu, Health and Gender Editor
THE Government is securing another consignment of critical hospital equipment and machinery from the Sugar Tax under phase two, which is set to improve accessibility to diagnostics and treatment in the country’s hospitals.
It is estimated that about US$30 million will be collected in the second phase.
The Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora, said this on Friday during a visit to assess the state of central hospitals in Bulawayo and to also identify key challenges and how they can be overcome.
He visited United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), Mpilo Central Hospital, Ingutsheni Central Hospital and Cowdray Park Health Centre.
Sugar Tax was introduced in 2024 to discourage excessive sugar intake in beverages and to raise funds for the procurement of machinery for treatment of cancer in Zimbabwe.
“We have utilised about US$25million procuring cancer treatment machines, although we did not get enough, we still have to purchase more machines that we did not purchase in phase one. In phase two we are looking at buying those ones we do not have, including diagnostic machines because we cannot treat where there is no diagnosis,” he said.
Dr Mombeshora added;
“We have two radiotherapy centres only, one at Mpilo and another at Parirenyatwa but we want to spread the diagnosis to be able to be done in our peripheries such as district hospitals and provincial hospitals. That will help in picking up tumours, which will be very small and treating them. That is why in phase two we want to buy those other machines,” he said.
In 2024, he said the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion collected about US$30 million and projections are that another similar amount will be collected again by the end of 2025.
“This is why we are trying to start our procurement for the second phase as we are targeting using between US$25million and US$30million for this,” said Dr Mombeshora.
At UBH, the Minister observed that the CT scans and some of the X-ray machines were down, forcing patients to seek services in the private sector where it is expensive.
The Government has already used the first batch of the sugar tax to secure some cancer machines that will be delivered at the end of this year.
Dr Mombeshora, however, said he was impressed with drug stocks at the Bulawayo institutions.
“The most important thing that I have seen today is that our drug stock levels have gone up and on average we are hovering at around 60 and 70 percent, which is good. Obviously, it is not the best, ideally, we should be 100 percent but it is good from where we are coming from. Last year, we ended the year on 49 percent stock levels but now we have moved up. I want to thank our President for listening to our plight and making financial resources available,” said Dr Mombeshora.
He said they now have two major suppliers of drugs.
Dr Mombeshora said he was also looking at the infrastructure at the central hospitals identifying areas that need renovations and upgrading to meet the demand being faced.
He also said generally, the equipment that is in the hospitals is now old and needs replacement as they are getting quite frequent breakdowns that disrupt service delivery.
He said central hospitals are teaching hospitals and the Ministry wants to ensure that the products that come out of these training institutions are exposed to better, modern day equipment that they know how to use.
“We want to ensure that all hospitals get CT and MRI scans and that, I think, we will be able to do that by the end of the year. We will have procured these scans for all our central hospitals. We also want to see if we can get them modern ultrasound scanning machines and mammograms that help in the diagnosis of breast cancers. If we do not screen then it means we pick them when it is late and it means we will not be able to help out mothers,” he said.
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Bongani Ndlovu