District hospital for Hobhouse

MUTARE City Council has proposed a budget of $100 000 for the construction of a district hospital in Hobhouse high-density suburb, in a move meant to de-congest city clinics and improve service delivery.

Director of health services Dr Antony Mutara said the move to establish the facility was necessitated by the huge population figures in the area that needed to access health services.

“We plan to have a district hospital in Hobhouse given the big population that we have there and our plan is to do this in phases.

“So the $100 000 will cater for the first phase of the hospital,” he said.

He said council would budget for the second and third phases of the hospital next year.

“We will have the first phase for $100 000 and then next year we will budget for the second and third phases to complete the hospital.

“We expect the hospital to offer all services including theatre and maternity,” added Dr Mutara.

He said city council was currently renting a house in the area, which was being used as a clinic.

Dr Mutara said the hospital would go a long way in easing pressure from city clinics.

“We are trying to de-congest the city,” he said.

“We should do away with this model of planning in which all services were centralised in the city.

“We are supposed to create cities within cities, so that’s why we have started with this hospital.”