Pace gathers in refurbishment of isolation centres

THE Manicaland provincial Covid-19 taskforce is pushing for the expedition of renovations at isolation and treatment centres as the number of cases needing accommodation has increased.

The province has identified 14 hospitals across the province as isolation and treatment centres, but the renovations of the facilities has dragged for some time now owing to unavailability of resources.

The call comes at a time when the province now has 18 confirmed cases of Covid-19.

The provincial taskforce has received recommendations from the health sub-taskforce to fast track the completion of the side ward at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital as it already has a reasonable staff complement when compared to Mutare Infectious Diseases Hospital, which only has four staff members.

Provincial Public Works Department head, Mr Tendai Chiwanza said they were expecting Government to release funds this week to complete the first phase of the rehabilitation works at the provincial hospital and MIDH.

“The first phase of this project is the renovation of Victoria Chitepo and MIDH and we have set a target to complete works by end of this month. At Victoria Chitepo, we hope to complete the installation of air tight doors, air ventilation as well as the construction of ablution facilities as soon as Treasury releases the funds,” he said.

Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital is expected to have a combined 19 beds in the Intensive Care Unit and High Dependence Unit and another 14 beds in the general Covid19 ward.

Once completed, MIDH is expected to have a carrying capacity of 30 patients, with 10 of those in the ICU.

The MIDH ICU wing was completed last month, but is waiting for equipment to be installed.

Mr Chiwanza said renovation of the main wing is still in progress and is also awaiting release of funds from Treasury to Mutare City Council.

However, the works being done will now include the establishment of new ICU and HDU units within the main wing since the original ICU wing is detached from the main hospital.

“The Ministry of Health and Child Care, through the Provincial Medical Director, has recommended that the ICU and HDU should be part of the main hospital so that the work that we are doing will take this into account. Funds permitting, we hope to complete this project by the end of this month,” said Mr Chiwanza.

The second phase of the works will include the district hospitals that have been allocated resources for renovation.

Mr Chiwanza said the procurement of materials for Chipinge and Nyanga District Hospitals had already begun following the disbursement of $4 million to each hospital last month.