Chronicle Editor
AFTER a night of senselessness and barbarism two years ago, on one fateful 8 November evening, Gwanda’s Vubachikwe Mine Clinic shut its doors to a community that it had served for decades, delivering decent health services to several generations of mine workers and their families.
The community, in a moment of madness during an illegal strike, had turned on their giver of health and life and destroyed it, breaking even the window panes, the geyser and other things at the facility. The community had run amok destroying everything they could of the structure that was at the centre of the good health of the community.
Those in the majority who opposed the senseless violence and wanton destruction of property by the illegal strikers could only stand and watch as the dangerous thugs, drunk on unintelligent propaganda, sought to exact as much damage as they could onto a community source of life and livelihood.
The crowning moment was when they destroyed the mine clinic’s ambulance for good measure.
A vehicle that had ferried many of them, their co-workers, wives, children and other relatives in their hour of need. It had ferried their pregnant wives to delivery rooms bringing back bundles of joy for them in the form of beautiful children adding to the bounteous earth.
And yet in this hour of madness, all that counted for nothing.
The irony would be that only a few hours after the strike, heavily pregnant women would get in touch with the mine management of the now-closed mine, which was now on care and maintenance, requesting transport, any alternative, to be ferried as they were in pain, their waters on the verge of breaking far away from major health service delivery centres.
Two years after the madness, long after senses have returned to their rightful place, and the architects of the strike who misled the masses have by and large left the scene, save for a few rotten apples sending putrid smells of misinformation, there is good news at last on the health front.
Following the commissioning of the Vubachikwe Mine small-scale project that marks a return to production for the mine, management has moved further, rehabilitated the mine clinic and soon shall open its doors to patients.
Oh! And add to that, the ambulance has been fixed and returns looking brand sparkling new.
“It is true that the mine will see the clinic return to full operation once a few things are sorted in the coming week or so and it will be all systems go,” said mine spokesperson, Mr Robert Mukondiwa in an interview at the mine last week.
“While operations have not totally ceased as the sister at the mine was still ensuring that those with chronic conditions kept getting attention during the closure, the mine clinic was inevitably closed because of the destructive illegal strike,” said Mr Mukondiwa.
“Of course, service shall start with a rollout of services for those on care and maintenance on the mine who, exposed to the hazards of work on the mine, shall be a priority, the object is to make sure we capacitate ourselves soon enough to include their dependants and eventually those currently out of work on the village who are on no work no pay culminating in a return to services being rendered to the mining village in its entirety as was the case pre-strike, “ said Mr Mukondiwa.
“We must appreciate that access to health is a fundamental right and although the mine clinic was a privilege for our village, it is a privilege that lies at the centre of our hearts and the CSR and service-driven nature of our institution hence we have been in deep emotional agony over the past couple of years haunted by the consequences of the closure at the hands of a few misguided elements yet having an impact on even the innocent new-born joining our mining village or those that did not participate in the acts of wanton destruction,” emphasised Mr Mukondiwa.
The mine clinic Sister, Sr Ethel Sibanda was reportedly raring to go as the new era of service delivery dawned upon the mine.
“Our mine clinic sister is a unique human being whose every inch is built with empathy. She has been running an effective scheme of looking after our chronic illness community and is elated that we are getting back to operational normalcy. She has taken delivery of the solar-powered fridge in which to store her vaccines and related medications, which is good news for our immunisation programs and our children on the mine who need such services.
“Of course, apart from essential services there shall always be a bias towards health service delivery to our children who are the real reason we get up, work, provide and ensure we make this world a better place. This is Sister Sibanda’s forte and with the ambulance being delivered, we have all the basic tools we need to build and sustain a healthy community,” concluded Mr Mukondiwa.
Online Reporter