Indian investors to jet in to finalise Ekusileni opening

OFFICIALS from the Sharda Group of Institutions (SGI), an Indian investor identified by the Government to run Ekusileni Medical Centre in Bulawayo will soon visit the country for final arrangements before opening the hospital.

Last week, SGI announced that it had started recruiting hospital personnel in preparation for the re-opening of the facility.

In a statement, SGI chief operations officer Dr Raja Dutta said they had received the green light from the Ministry of Health and Child Care to start operations at the institution. “We have received the affirmation letter from the health ministry in Zimbabwe and shortly our team will visit Harare to close down final points of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed based on waiver for Indian doctors and nurses so that they can be in Zimbabwe and do their work as and when required. The similar arrangement has to be done with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to allow Indian doctors multiple entry visas so that they can be rotated among themselves for maintaining a good pool of super specialist doctors,” said Dr Dutta.

He expressed gratitude to the Government for trusting SGI to run Ekusileni, saying the project holds national importance for the citizens of Zimbabwe.

“Sharda Hospital thanks Zimbabwe and its people, who have trusted us for giving us the opportunity to commission, run and manage the Ekusileni Hospital. We are equally indebted to the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Obadiah Moyo and His Excellency, Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Rungsung Masakui. Without their hard work, this project would not have been possible,” said Dr Dutta.

He said SGI will open the hospital as soon as clearances are made by the relevant ministries and the MOU is signed.

“We would bring all super specialty departments to Bulawayo and will try to hire maximum staff locally. Our human resources team will be in Zimbabwe with the project team. However, those wishing to work at Ekusileni can still apply for their desired jobs at hr.ekusileni@shardahospital. org.

E kusileni Medical Centre was shut down in 2001 and several efforts have been made to revive the hospital to no avail. In 2015, a South African firm, Phodiso Holdings, was engaged to equip the hospital and the deal was expected to be implemented by April of the same year, but the efforts came to nought. The hospital was closed after it was discovered that equipment worth millions of dollars acquired by the Zimbabwean Health Care Trust (ZHCT), after renting it from NSSA, was obsolete.

The health facility was initiated as a joint venture between ZHCT and Netcare, a South African healthcare group that provides private healthcare in both South Africa and the United Kingdom.

A super structure development fund was set up which saw NSSA, ZHCT and the Mining Industry Pension Fund (MIPF) becoming partners as developers.

MIPF, however, later pulled out of the project, leaving NSSA to develop it on its own and became the sole owner of the property as ZHCT failed to contribute towards its construction. — @pamelashumba1 MULTI Choice has dismissed a letter circulating on social media alleging that the satellite broadcaster will shut down all accounts outside South Africa, which are subscribed to in the neighbouring country.

A statement purporting to be from Multi Choice circulated on social media yesterday, claiming that the company would use a new geo