By Thandiwe Garusa
THE government has begun renovations at Parirenyatwa’s Mbuya Nehanda Maternity Hospital and Adlam House, a student nurses’ accommodation facility.
The renovations followed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s visits to Parirenyatwa and Sally Mugabe public referral hospitals after a public outcry over their dilapidated states.
After the visit, presidential spokesperson George Charamba acknowledged the dire state of Zimbabwe’s public hospitals, highlighting infrastructure decay, policy gaps and systematic overload.
Soon after, a private company, which is being funded by the government, began renovations at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
Speaking during a tour of the hospital, Minister of Health Douglas Mombeshora said Parirenyatwa Hospital will be modernised to meet world-class standards.
“We are looking at renovations taking place at two places, the Adlam House which is accommodation for student nurses.
“As you may have realised, there was a lot of damage to the infrastructure on the roof, the ceilings to the floors to the sewer reticulation and the water system
“We hope by the beginning of September, the first block will be through and here where we are is Mbuya Nehanda Maternity Hospital, also there was a lot of work needed to be done or still needs to be done because nothing much has taken place.”
Mombeshora said they had to move some patients using the maternity ward to allow renovations to take place.
He added that preliminary assessments are underway to develop a comprehensive plan for renovating the hospital into a modern facility equipped with new medical equipment.
“Next will be the main hospital, it will be done in phases because we cannot close the whole hospital.
“Already, some preliminary work is being done to assess the damages so that a comprehensive plan is brought forward for implementation.
“We cannot say of a time frame as we speak because the assessment has not been completed yet.
“We hope we will be able to come up with a new look hospital, modern, comparable with any other hospital in the world and we are also looking at bringing in new equipment, new beds, new theatre equipment, new X rays, new CT scans, everything should be working by the time we start operating in the new facility,” he said.
Mnangagwa’s government has long neglected general hospitals, which now face crumbling infrastructure, medicine shortages, costly patient care and poor wages that have led to low staff morale and a massive brain drain.