Council to build clinics in resettlement areas

BEITBRIDGE Rural District Council (BBRDC) is set to build more clinics in resettlements areas, where access to primary health care facilities is relatively limited, an official has said.

The local authority’s chief executive, Mr Peter Moyo said they were planning to build clinics in Wards 13 (Lesanth and Kayansee) and 14 (Mazunga).

He said the council would fund the projects with resources from the devolution initiative.

Mr Moyo said with the current allocation of $3.6 million the council had managed to complete Chabili clinic, which is set to open soon in Ward 2.

He said another clinic was almost complete at Dumba (Ward 15) and was expected to open its doors before the end of the year.

Currently, the district has 16 rural health care centres and needs double the number to have a total coverage of at least two clinics per ward.

The population is very sparse and people walk for more than 20 km to access health facilities.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) standards stipulate that people must not travel for more than 8km to reach a clinic.

“We want to increase the number of clinics in our area and we intend to use the devolution funds for such projects,” said Mr Moyo.

“So far, we have committed an allocation of $3, 6million on the construction of two clinics and one school which are all nearing completion.

“Our next target is the resettlement areas, where there are notable health service deliveries challenges”.