Healthcare comes to doorsteps of villagers
More than 11 000 villagers in Nzvimbe area of Makoni South now have a local clinic following the commissioning of the state-of-the-art Nzvimbe Rural Health Centre built from devolution funds.
Nzvimbe Clinic was first mooted in 1985 to cater for the newly resettled villagers, but was not built because of lack of funds. The dream was only made possible when the Second Republic heeded the calls of the community for a health facility to be built in the area and funded the project.
Villagers in the cholera and malaria prone area used to travel more than 15km to access health services, but now have a local facility.
Commissioning the health centre on Wednesday, the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution Advocate Misheck Mugadza commended Government for availing funds which made the construction of the clinic possible and completed on time.
“The completion of Nzvimbe Clinic is a clear testimony of the Second Republic’s dedication to ensure a robust health delivery system across the country.
This clinic which marks a significant milestone in the history of Nzvimbe area was constructed as a direct response to the challenges which confronted the communities of Ward 31 of Makoni South Constituency in terms of accessing health care services.
“The health centre is to serve a population of more than 11 000 people, comprising pregnant mothers, under five children, men and women as well as people living with disabilities. All these group of people used to have a torrid time in accessing healthcare delivery services as they were walking very long distances to reach their nearest health centres.
“The idea of setting up this clinic was first conceived in 1985, but was only implemented after the coming in of the Second Republic led by His Excellency, President Mnangagwa. Millions of dollars were disbursed from Government through devolution funds in 2019.
“The Nzvimbe community is set to enjoy the following advantages from this clinic: reduction of mortality rates from diseases such as cholera and malaria, reduction of the high maternal and neonatal morbidity rate caused by home deliveries cases.
“Villagers will pay less for healthcare fees. People are now travelling shorter distances to get healthcare services as opposed to the 12km and 15km they used to travel to either Nyamidzi Clinic in Ward 30 or Mount Zuma in Mutare District,” said Minister Mugadza.
Makoni South Constituency House of Assembly member, Cde Albert Nyakuedzwa hailed Chief Chiduku and his subjects for cooperating with Government to provide locally available resources.
“Our special commendation goes to the Nzvimbe community who with the encouragement of Chief Chiduku provided their invaluable labour through mobilising locally available materials such as bricks, river sand, pit sand and quarry stones for the construction of this clinic,” he said.