ZANU-PF senator for Beitbridge, Tambudzani Mohadi, has urged the government to set up more health centres in rural and resettlement areas to improve the quality of life for citizens.
Her call comes as most villagers in rural areas travel long distances to reach health centres and access medication while some end up defaulting altogether due to the inability to travel.
This affects those patients who suffer from chronic diseases such as BP and hypertension and those who are on Anti-Retro Viral Treatment (ART).
Mohadi made these remarks while briefing members of the Senate in Parliament Wednesday.
The senator who was recently in Doha for a bilateral visit to the Shura Advisory Council noted that Zimbabwe has a lot to learn from Qatar, as the oil-rich country has equally suffered from western imposed sanctions.
She said the conversation with the President of Qatar shed light on specific areas where our government needs to improve in order to enhance the economy and improve the people’s way of life.
“We have done a lot on the health sector but we have not reached our target because we still have some areas where our people have to travel for more than 20 kilometres to get to a hospital,” said Senator Mohadi.
“People living with HIV/AIDS end up absconding from going to collect their medication because of these long distances. We still have a lot to be done. We must see to it that we look at areas which have problems of long distances and construct more health facilities,” she said.
She said pregnant women are not spared this agony as they are forced to travel long distances in their delicate condition.
Mohadi told the Senate the president of Qatar also encouraged the country to invest in human capital, mainly through education.
“Qatar has already assisted over a million girls to attain an education and seeks to surpass this number. This should serve as an encouragement to Zimbabwe, that no matter the circumstances, the girl child must be sent to school,” she said.
Mohadi said in the same light the STEM program should be properly budgeted for to enable the country to have leading engineering schools which will enhance the economy of the country.
“This is not surprising because Qatar has undergone sanctions and are struggling. We need to interact with such nations so we can learn and explore other ideas of doing our businesses as Zimbabwe is open for business,” she said.
