By Judith Sibanda
A Jambezi man is appealing for financial assistance to cover medical expenses following his colon cancer diagnosis.
Orchard Ndlovu from Chief Shana’s area was diagnosed with cancer and needs about US$250 to conduct further tests in Zambia.
“I had been in and out of the hospitals locally (Victoria Falls), but I failed to get tested here or anywhere in the province because there are no diagnostic machines. I was told I had piles until I went to Zambia where they immediately found that I had cancer and now they want to identify the stage where it is.”
Ndlovu can be contacted on 00263785750032.
He said he first tried to seek medical help at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo last year but had to be discharged as he did not have the required US$750 for scans.
Member of Parliament for Hwange West Godfrey Dube lamented the lack of diagnostic equipment such as that for detecting cancer, which he said was a cause for concern as the city serves residents and international tourists.
“We find most of our people from this constituency crossing over to Zambia for scans because there are no machines and even the private hospitals are far beyond their reach and it’s very unfortunate,” he said.
“We have tried to raise this issue time and again before parliament, but no action has been taken, but our people from this region have to travel as far as 1000 kilometres to Harare to get scans and some have even died in the end, so we encourage the government to take note of people’s struggles and the importance of this referral hospital so that we can have functioning machines.”
He added that Victoria Falls Hospital is situated in a tourist area, and should have top-notch medical facilities.
Often, most tourists who require urgent medical attention are usually flown to South Africa.
“Even the tourists are not safe when our main hospitals have no facilities for emergencies and we will keep lobbying for our government to hear us from that angle too.”
However, Matabeleland North province state minister Richard Moyo said the government was about to complete Lupane provincial hospital meant to cater for patients such as Ndlovu.
“It will be the second largest hospital in the country and we will have people as far as Harare coming here because the machinery to be put there will be the most advanced.”
