Ambulance boost for Chimanimani

CHIMANIMANI district recently received a major boost when council acquired an ambulance which also serves as a mobile clinic.

Chimanimani RDC chief executive Mr Nehemia Deure said the increase in accidents in the area prompted the local authority to buy the ambulance.

A majority of the road traffic accidents, he said, involved huge haulage trucks that fail to negotiate the mountainous terrain.

“We have an emergency ambulance, which we bought recently after we witnessed a number of accidents mainly from haulage trucks that roll off the mountainous topography,” he said.

“As a local authority, we realised that there was need to have an emergency ambulance after witnessing the growing number of big trucks crashing in the mountains.

“Th is emergency ambulance can also work as a mobile clinic.

“It was built in such a way that it can work as a clinic and in cases of disease outbreaks, we can dispatch our medical team comprising nurses and a doctor to those areas.

“For example, if we hear that there is a diarrhoea outbreak, we can despatch it to such areas,” he said.

Mr Deure said the ambulance was bought through council coffers.

He also said they have struck a deal with a medical doctor who visits Chimanimani Council Clinic on a weekly basis.

According to Mr Deure, the deal makes the health centre one of the few council clinics in the province to have a medical doctor.

“We have also opened a clinic, which is 100 percent run by the council. Council has since brokered a deal with a medical practitioner who visits the health centre every Thursday.

“Th is is a major boost for our people, as they used to travel long distances to access the services of a medical doctor,” he said.

Mr Deure said council had also improved its water reticulation and sanitation, which saw an upward movement of about four percent in people accessing safe water in the district.

“During the last fi nancial year, we have moved about four percent up in terms of people accessing safe (drinking) water. We have rehabilitated about eight boreholes, while our development partners have come up with solar-powered water schemes.

“These have also seen more than 4 000 families accessing safe water,” he said.