Type to search

Accommodation crisis hits Zvamabande Hosp

Health Latest Local News

Accommodation crisis hits Zvamabande Hosp

Share

ALVINA CHIWANIKA
MIRROR REPORTER

SHURUGWI – Nurses at Zvamabande, the biggest rural referral hospital in Shurugwi serving 12 000 residents are staying in dilapidated houses that can cave in at any moment, District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Chandiwana Nyachowe has said.
He told Midlands Minister of State Owen Ncube when he toured the hospital last Friday that the department of Public Works condemned the houses and the nurses are staying at their own risk.
Dr Nyachowe added that some houses don’t even have doors while the mothers’ waiting shelter doesn’t have blankets. The hospital records an average of 700 births a year.
The hospital attends to an average 15 patients a day and has 26 nurses.
“There is serious shortage of basic necessities at the hospital including blankets at the mothers’ waiting shelter, plates, ablution facilities, water and evening lights.
“Staff houses are in a poor condition. When the Public Works Department toured the houses they said that nurses were now staying at their own risk as the houses are no longer habitable. Some have wide open cracks. Some of our nurses are staying in cabins,” he bemoaned.
Most Blair toilets at the hospital are full or at risk at caving in and have been blocked with thorns.
Ncube expressed shock at the situation and said he was not aware of the deterioration.
“I did not know that this is the situation at Zvamabande Rural Hospital. I am shocked to discover the absence of basic necessities at the hospital. I am told the Public Works Department has condemned the houses warning of the risks associated with continued occupancy,” said Ncube.
He pledged to donate 15 solar lights, blankets, window frames, door frames and tiles for the kitchen within seven days. He also said that Shurugwi South legislator Wilson Mhuri will donate 20 bags of cement and former Shurugwi North MP Robson Nyathi 20 bags of cement. Ncube said he would engage other stakeholders to solicit donations.
He donated food stuffs including sugar, rice, mealie meal and cooking oil purchased using funds raised during the Independence Dinner held in Kwekwe on April 17, this year.
Proceeds of the dinner have been donated to vulnerable groups in institutions as prisons, old people’s home, orphanages and hospitals in the Midlands.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error

Enjoy our stories? Please spread the word: