Hwange to commission first council clinic

HWANGE Town Board will soon commission its first council clinic building amid revelations that for more than 42 years it has been operating from a town house.

Hwange local authority chief executive officer Mr Ndumiso Mdlalosi said the clinic’s building was halfway done, but the council was yet to find equipment for completion of the project.

“The structure is almost complete, we are waiting for equipment to finish off the clinic, after that we open it to the public.

“All things being equal we are looking forward to opening the clinic around October,” said Mr Mdlalosi.

Mr Mdlalosi said the town had been getting its health services from the Hwange Colliery clinics and St Patrick’s Hospital which is owned by the Catholic Church.

“Locals have been seeking medical attention from clinics in the Colliery villages because every village has its own clinic. We hope residents will benefit a lot from the additional services that were not being provided at the town house. We are happy to have constructed our first clinic, it is something worth mentioning,” said Mr Mdlalosi.

Mr Mdlalosi said the construction was set rolling with a budget of $60 000. He added that council had been facing challenges of funding the construction but received assistance from donors and local mining companies.

“We started off with a budget of $60 000, but we have used more than $100 000. Council has been financing the construction, however, we also got donations from Makomo Resources, South Mining, W.K Blasting and Chilota local mines,” said Mr Mdlalosi.

He said the opening of a bigger clinic would see more nurses being employed with the facility expected to have six wards.

Mr Mdlalosi said the construction was necessitated by the growth in the town’s population that called for efficient and spacious health service delivery infrastructure.

“With the increase in population Hwange town needed a bigger clinic, we might actually talk about another clinic in five years to come,” said Mr Mdlalosi.

Mr Mdlalosi said it was not the Government’s responsibility to construct clinics for a town, but it is the local authority’s responsibility to provide its people with primary health facilities as part of its commitment to service delivery.

He also said the construction of clinics was a partial fulfillment of the Zim Asset’s social services and poverty eradication cluster.