Bulawayo East Member of Parliament Ilos Nyoni has implored the Ministry of Health and Child Care to allocate more resources to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) in order to improve health services at the referral hospital.
Addressing Parliamentarians, Tuesday, the legislator bemoaned the deplorable state of the health facility ranging from infrastructure to services.
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir. My point of national interest is the state of the maternity wings of most hospitals in Zimbabwe. I will zero in on the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH). I have had an opportunity to visit that part of the hospital and the state it is in is very sad,” said Nyoni.
“The infrastructure has dilapidated; the floors have potholes; in a hospital. The buildings are crowded, you will find expecting mothers being asked to sleep on the floor because the beds will be full. They end up being asked to bring their own blankets from home.”
Nyoni said blood stocks at the hospital were critically low a worrying situation especially for expecting mothers.
“We are also aware that during the process of labour, a lot of blood is lost and most of the time the blood is not there. If the doctors prescribe two pints of blood, what will be available is what is given and in most cases, they will end up getting less than half of the blood that will be needed,” he said.
“It is my prayer therefore that the Ministry of Health looks at this issue with seriousness to ensure that there is improvement in this area. Perhaps also consider utilisation of Ekusileni Medical Centre which is currently under-utilised although it is said to be open.”
Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care,Dr John Mangwiro, responded to the matter by highlighting that the Medical Services Amendment Bill, once passed into law, will address these issues and improve the services.
“The Bill before the House recognises the right to healthcare and basic principles of Universal Access to Health, basic healthcare services are defined and the Hon. Minister is empowered to define the basic health service packages at every level of the services platforms vis-a-vis clinic, district, general, provincial, central, research and development hospital levels. This implies that there will be best packages for clinic, a basic package for district hospital, a basic package for general provincial hospitals and a basic package for specialist services at central and district hospitals,” said Dr Mangwiro.
“The Bill defines with what constitutes reproductive healthcare services and that should be part of the basic healthcare package. The minister is empowered to list those chronic illnesses that should be part of the basic health packages and the various service platforms.”
