The Sunday News
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
Beitbridge District Hospital is overstrained in terms of resources to cater for patients due to its location in Sadc and the country’s busiest port of entry and increased annual population growth.
This was said by Beitbridge East Legislator Cde Albert Nguluvhe yesterday during the handover of 11 theatre garments to the 160-bed hospital.
He said there was need for Government to upgrade the health institution to cater for the 250 000 local population and an additional daily transient 15 000 travellers. Beitbridge District Hospital is a referral centre for 17 primary health clinics.
“The hospital is strained in terms of resources due to the increased demand of services. Though this is a Government hospital we need to own it as the community and put heads together in confronting challenges. During a recent tour of the hospitals I discovered that there are a lot of challenges including electricity supply, tools of trade for medical stuff and water. Today I have brought 11 theatre garments to replace those that have been worn out. The hospital requires 15 to operate at full strength. At the same time I call for corporates and stalwarts in our area to complement Government efforts to improve service delivery in the health sector. I have also approached the Energy Development Minister (Cde Chasi) and Zetdc to ensure that they provide a dedicated electricity line to the hospital”.
He said it was also important to have contingent measures to ensure the health institution has water daily. The legislator added that efforts should be made by communities and Government to install solar that can power the hospital 24 hours, as an alternative source of energy.
Cde Nguluvhe said it was also important for Government to review funds and resources allocation to Beitbridge District Hospital considering its location and workload.
He said it was sad that hospital authorities had to suspend mortuary services due to the current shortage of electricity.
Sunday News is reliably informed that the hospital requires at least 500kgs of meat and 300 loaves of bread monthly when operating at full strength. Beitbridge paramount Chief Vho Stauze (David Mbedzi) recently also appealed to Government to upgrade two health centres into referral hospitals or polyclinics at Zezani (Beitbridge West) and Tshaswingo (Beitbridge East).
This, he said will improve issues of people travelling for long distances to seek services in Beitbridge town.
