Mpilo Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Narcisius DzvAnga, has criticised the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) for failing to exempt the hospital from water and power cuts.
His comments came after a power outage interrupted a visit by U.S. Ambassador Pamela Tremont, who was touring the hospital’s HIV laboratory, which is supported by the U.S. government.
Due to the outage, Ambassador Tremont was unable to see the laboratory equipment in operation.
“As I was coming here, I had my secretary send a reminder to the parent ministry about our request for exemption from outages,” Dr. Dzvanga said. “We have several key institutions here, including lines that serve the State House and even water supply, but they can’t separate us from the general grid.”
Dr. Dzvanga highlighted that while the Bulawayo mayor David Coltart indicated it’s possible to dedicate water supply to Mpilo without disconnection, ZESA has raised complications.
He urged higher-level discussions to ensure that all hospitals, not just Mpilo, receive uninterrupted power.
“At the ministerial and cabinet level, it has been long agreed that all health institutions must be exempt from power cuts, including cases of non-payment for water and electricity,” Dzvanga added.
He also revealed that Mpilo Hospital has a solar farm capable of powering the entire facility, but a vital cable for connection is still being sourced from Germany.
“The irony is we have a complete solar farm right here, but the missing piece is the cable, which is coming from Germany. Once we’re connected, Mpilo Hospital will no longer experience power outages,” he said.
