Gwanda Provincial Hospital in Matabeleland South has appealed for more support in retaining specialist doctors to avoid referring all cases to Bulawayo.
The hospital this week received a donation of a haemodialysis machine worth US$15 thousand from Stanbic Bank.
Speaking during the handover ceremony at the hospital Monday, Matabeleland South Provincial Medical Director (PMD), Dr Rudo Chikodzore said it was important for the province to retain the few specialists it now has.
It took the province more than 20 years, Dr Chikodzore said, to have the specialists resident in the province.
“These specialists really need to be capacitated,” she said.
“We are not only saying this to Stanbic but all other partners and the community here at large. By the end of this year, we are expecting to have a general surgeon.”
Dr Chikodzore added that Gwanda Provincial Hospital should be capacitated to become a specialist hub for the province.
Matabeleland South Provincial Development Coordinator, Latiso Dlamini said specialists should be capacitated enough to remain in the province.
“We don’t want a situation where our health staff keep on leaving Matabeleland South or Gwanda in particular.”
She added that for those partners seeking to assist the hospital, there was still a need to have a proper casualty or accident and emergency care infrastructure.
“You are all aware of the frequent road traffic accidents that occur along Bulawayo-Beitbridge highway,” Dlamini said.
“It is indeed a reality that at this major hospital we do not have adequate infrastructure to deal with massive road traffic disasters and other possible disasters that could happen even in our surrounding mines. We also need to support our competent specialists with a renovated theatre and equipment. This will greatly reduce the costs and inconveniences of transferring to Bulawayo. There is also a need for upgrading equipment and machinery. No amount is too small.”
