Devolution sparks hope in expectant mothers, ‘I gave birth on a hill top on my way to the clinic’

Sharon Chimenya, Masvingo Correspondent

FOR Ms Thandiwe Gozo of Mativenga Village, Chief Charumbira, Masvingo, getting pregnant and mothering children was no longer a proud symbol of complete womanhood. It had ceased to be the natural and joyful process that it should be. It had turned into a nightmare. A torturous exercise that given a choice, many women in her village would gladly let go.

The reason for this unnatural feeling among the village women was the painful distance that they were exposed to while visiting Charumbira Clinic — the nearest health centre which was separated from them by a distance of 18 kilometres.

However, the completion of Reshuro Clinic that is resourced through devolution funds from Government and whose distance is walkable is expected to change the attitude to having pregnancy and giving birth among the villagers after waiting for what seemed like eternity.

The clinic is set to be open by the end of this year. Ms Gozo’s last experience when she was pregnant was gruelling. She gave birth on a hill on her way to Charumbira Clinic and said she was lucky that she was in the company of her mother who played the midwifery role.

The construction of Reshuro Clinic has therefore brought so much joy to the community with women saying it is going to ease the distance that they travel in search of medical attention especially when they are pregnant.

“I gave birth on a hill top on my way to the clinic during my last pregnancy. It was a near death experience that I don’t want to keep talking about. Had it not been for my mother who was with me, I would have become a maternal mortality statistic. I passed out. I was tired from the distance and yet we were still far from the clinic. I bled profusely and people had to ferry me in a scotch cart so that I could get to the clinic, but you can imagine the pain. There is no comfort in the scotch cart,” said Ms Gozo.

She said they were elated that after a number of years of walking the rugged and tiring distance to Charumbira Clinic each time they wanted attention with their health, Reshuro Clinic, once complete, was going to be the proverbial stitch in time that would save nine.

The villagers expressed their gratitude to the Government for actualising the devolution agenda saying it had tamed distances to health centres in most of the country’s rural communities. It is in line with the country’s economic blueprint — the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) where Government outlines its commitment to improving the quality of life, and improve life expectancy at birth from the current 61 years to 65 years.

The blueprint highlights and seeks to deal with the challenges and some health-related shocks undermining the health system that have contributed to rapid deterioration in health outcomes in general, specifically in maternal health.

“The health sector is also faced with critical shortage of specialised professionals and health-care staff, dilapidated hospital infrastructure, lack of essential medicines and commodities, inadequate emergency services for delivery and under-utilisation of existing antenatal services. Despite notable progress in the coverage of reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health and nutrition services, key impact indicators such as maternal mortality ratio, infant mortality rate, neonatal mortality rate and under-five mortality rate have not improved to the extent expected,” reads part of the blueprint.

The Government has however, continued to make strides in bridging the health gap by bringing health facilities closer to the people through devolution. Ms Gozo said the construction of Reshuro Clinic by the Masvingo Rural District Council was a major relief as they would be able to have planned pregnancies as the family planning methods would be administered closer to their homesteads.

“It was very far for us to go and collect family planning tablets from the clinic especially for us whose husbands are working in South Africa. You cannot deny them their conjugal rights when they come back home because you would not have collected the pills,” she said.

Another villager Ms Shylet Mativemba applauded the effort by President Mnangagwa of ensuring that they too get medical assistance closer to their homesteads.

“The problem that most women in this area face is that there was one clinic and no transport to get there for routine check-ups until you give birth.

You have to walk a long distance to reach the nearest clinic. The clinic has no waiting rooms so the nurses would advise you to come back when you are due leading to various challenges and complications.

In 2011, I gave birth on my way to the clinic because I had to walk from Mudenge Primary School to Charumbira Clinic which is about 18km and this happened in the evening,” she said.

Construction of the clinic began in the early 1980s as part of a community initiative but due to financial constraints the villagers could not go past window level.

The project faced neglect before thieves helped themselves to some of the materials that had been sourced and the structure collapsed.

The Masvingo RDC however, prioritised the construction of the clinic under its devolution agenda. The clinic has a maternal ward and is expected to service at least 3  000 households.

Mr Steven Mudenge, the village development committee chairperson said that the clinic was set to open its doors before the end of the year as most of the work had been completed.

“In 2018, we were informed that we were finally going to get a clinic and as a community we started moulding bricks. We want to thank President Mnangagwa because he heard our plight for a clinic. This clinic will cater for 3 000 households and it has a solar-powered borehole.

Since independence we didn’t have a clinic but we now have one close to us. We are looking forward to the completion of this project once the local authority gets its share of the devolution funds,” said Mr Mudenge.

He said a number of other projects were coming to fruition courtesy of the devolution concept that had remained on paper until the coming in of the Second Republic, adding that the President was walking his talk when he announced that his administration was going to leave no one and no place behind in terms of development.