Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo has warned its staff against negligence leading to poor service delivery at the referral health institution.
As one of the country’s central hospitals, Mpilo receives patients from the three Matabeleland provinces – Bulawayo, Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North – the Midlands and Masvingo.
There have been reports of patients being not properly taken care of, with some people alleging that nurses at the institution are not welcoming at times.
An indication that the hospital is now feeling the heat, its chief executive officer, Professor Solwayo Ngwenya has circulated a memo to all departments and wards warning staff against negligence.
“It has come to our attention that there is deterioration in discipline in the hospital,” said Dr Ngwenya, in a memo dated 27 September 2021 and titled “Patients’ Dignity, Care and Safety.”
“This is compromising service delivery, and putting the care and safety of patients at intolerable risks. This memo is to remind everyone about our core values of compassion, treating all patients with dignity and acting in all reasonable manner to prevent all preventable deaths.”
He challenged the employees to work as a team for the benefit of patients at the health institution.
“Therefore everyone is encouraged to work as a team and where there is clinical doubt, or lack of action or inappropriate steps taken by one member of the team, the head of department, head of directorate, Acting Principal Nursing Officer, Acting Clinical Director, or the Acting Chief Executive Officer must be informed so that immediate steps are taken to alleviate patients’ pain and suffering and prevent avoidable deaths,” said Dr Ngwenya.
He added: “Should anyone fail to comply with these simple measures, severe disciplinary action shall be taken without further notice. Failure to inform people higher up in hierarchy may result in the whole team facing disciplinary action.”
