Online Reporter
Raymond Jaravaza, Sunday News Reporter
MPILO Central Hospital’s newly appointed chief medical officer, Professor Solwayo Ngwenya, has outlined his vision of transforming the second largest referral health institute into a modernised hospital that offers quality services to patients, as well as curbing infrastructure vandalism that threaten to cripple services the institution.
Over the years Mpilo Central Hospital has been hit by vandalism of its property, especially power supply infrastructure, as criminals target electricity cables and power sub stations.
In an interview with Zimpapers on the sidelines of a donation of 800 pairs of bed sheets and 800 pairs of draw sheets by First Lady Dr Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa on Wednesday, Prof Ngwenya said he will rein in on vandalism at the hospital, and acts that endanger the lives of patients.
“Vandalism at Mpilo Hospital was so rampant that we came to the conclusion that the acts of destruction were being committed by outsiders in cahoots with people within the institution as a way of sabotaging the hospital so that patients don’t access services here and are forced to seek the services from private players,” he said.
“To curb the acts of vandalism we have strengthened our security system and guards conduct routine searches in vehicles before they leave the hospital during the day and at night,” said Prof Ngwenya.
“The criminals also targeted vital infrastructure such as power stations and generators inside the hospital premises and we have deployed our security personnel to safeguard those properties.”
Prof Ngwenya said the acts of vandalism were most severe when criminals targeted the maternity wards.
“The biggest challenge we faced was when the criminals targeted power supply infrastructure that feeds maternity wards and once that happens then Mpilo Hospital, as we all know, would almost collapse.
“Through the introduction of stringent disciplinary procedures that any employee caught taking part in sabotage acts in the hospital go through, we have witnessed a dramatic drop in the cases of vandalism as they now know that such acts are dismissible offences,” he said.
Turning to strategies that will improve the standards and services at the health institution, Prof Ngwenya said his vision is to build on the reputation of sections of the hospital such as the Pediatric wards.
“We’re going to maintain the status quo through a number of interventions such as requesting Government to increase the number of staff in the Pediatric wards and the neonatal units because we attend to a lot of children who come from various parts of the country for medical services,” he said.
“Our vision is that patients that come to Mpilo Hospital must receive good quality healthcare and are not subjected to poor services, being attended to by fake doctors and nurses,” said Prof Ngwenya.
He said Government has a vision for citizens to attain quality health care services and Mpilo Central Hospital will complement those efforts through diligent work and high quality standards at the institution.
“We’re very grateful to President Mnangagwa for his bold initiatives to rehabilitate Mpilo Hospital and bring it to world class standards as evidenced by the drive to upgrade infrastructure and modernise the hospital.
“Two blocks – C and D – are being renovated at a very fast pace to bring the infrastructure to international standards and once the project is complete Mpilo Hospital will be transformed into a modern facility that offers quality health care services,” he added.
