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Eliah Saushoma Chronicle Reporter
THE National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has cited the prohibitive costs of prosthesis and appliances used in the rehabilitation of injured workers as some of the challenges impeding their service delivery.
The director in charge of benefits, schemes planning and research, Dr Henry Chikova, raised the concern at a Christmas party held for the rehabilitatees at the Workers Compensation Rehabilitation Centre in Bulawayo on Friday.
A prosthesis is an artificial device used to replace a missing body part such as a limb, tooth, eye, or heart valve.
“We spent over $100 000 on new prosthesis, appliances, wheelchairs and repairs to wheelchairs and over $86 000 on major surgeries’’ said Dr Chikova.
He said this year they had number of surgeries which included four hip replacements, two knee replacements, one cervical fusion and one spinal fusion.
This year the centre has to date received 1 192 patients and of these 685 were admissions and 507 were treated and discharged.
NSSA provides rehabilitation services to the injured workers as part of the compensation benefit. The rehabilitation centre is a comprehensive unit with facilities able to cope with 200 patients, 80 of whom would be inmates.
Rehabilitees are referred from regional offices across the country.
Dr Chikova highlighted the need to improve from the traditional vocational training which the organisation has been providing in fields that include dressmaking, leather craft, welding, carpentry and poultry to the introduction of new courses. These would be in the fields of computers, panel beating and spray painting.
The 80 inmates who were treated to food and drinks during the party were also given food hampers each to take home to their families.
Mrs Sheila Moyo (55), an inmate at the centre who was admitted in 2012, praised the management for the care they offer at the centre.
“I fell in a basement and fractured my ankle at work. I never thought that I would be walking properly today, their service is good,” said Mrs Moyo.
Mr Moses Chitombo, a former security guard who had his spine crushed by a sliding gate while at work in Gwanda, said he was grateful for a new lease on life.
“I thought I would die, I could not walk or feel anything,” he said.
“When I came here, the centre took care of all my medical expenses, among them operations and CT scans which are very expensive.
“I would have never managed on my own,’’ said Mr Chitombo who is now confined to a wheelchair.
He is now equipped with skills in leather craft which he will use to earn a living.
Mr Chitombo has been admitted to the rehabilitation centre since 2004 and is the longest staying inmate.
NSSA holds parties yearly for patients to celebrate achievements and take note of setbacks encountered during the year.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter