Top-notch Hurungwe hospital to open soon
A 60-BED composite hospital in Hurungwe is set to open its doors to the public to complement existing health centres and improve access to health services.
Construction of the hospital comprising dental and eye centre, laboratories for medical research and labour wards is now at an advanced stage.
In an interview, Magunje legislator Dr Godfrey Gandawa, who is spearheading the project, said the hospital would be complete soon as most of the major works had been done.
“We are now finalising the labour wards for admittance of patients and it will be complemented by a university which will be constructed in a clustered manner,” he said.
“The hospital will become the teaching part of the university. It will be a teaching hospital. We will be training nurses, dental practitioners and community development officers as part of the university.”
The teaching hospital is set to be complete and running by June this year, while the research centre of the university is expected to be complete by September.
Dr Gandawa said the research centre would be the postgraduate centre of the envisaged university where medical and agriculture research will be conducted.
The thrust, he said, was tailored to transform Magunje into a fledgling town with modern amenities.
“We are putting structures and institutions which have the potential to empower people as property owners will be able to rent them out once everything is up and running,” said Dr Gandawa.
“Magunje has been lagging behind in terms of development and we see this as an opportunity to reverse that.”
The university will major in agricultural sciences to provide solutions to the predominantly agricultural community on how to manage and derive benefits from their produce. Construction of the structures is being done with the participation of the community which provides bricks, while youths also provide labour and get a nominal allowance.
“We are working with the community, who sell the bricks they make to us while youths also provide labour,” said Dr Gandawa. “This creates employment for the youths and the community.”