Private doctors approach ED over land

PRIVATE medical players under the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe (MDPPAZ) banner have asked President Emmerson Mnangagwa to expedite issuance of land to their members.

In August last year, Mnangagwa pledged to allocate land to medical practitioners in private practice drawn from the country’s 10 provinces.

MDPPAZ has close to 372 medical practitioners set to benefit from the scheme.

Letters addressed to provincial affairs ministers, Lands and Agriculture secretary John Bhasera urged them to offer land to members of the MDPPZA.

However, little has been done on the ground with regards to the issuance of land to private medical players, which has compelled MDPPZA president Johannes Marisa to write to Mnangagwa.

“Practitioners have stood tall and with resilience and bravery, especially during the time of COVID-19 peaks. We declare our allegiance to you and the government and support all your endeavours to steer the economy forward,” Marisa said.

“As you recall, we applied for land via your respected offices in July 2021 and on August 16, 2021, your office responded by penning a request to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement ministry to consider land allocation to the medical practitioners. It was all joy among the medical practitioners as news filtered through all media houses that President Mnangagwa had allocated land to medical practitioners.”

Marisa said MDPPAZ has received great co-operation from Mashonaland East and Masvingo provinces.

However, MDPPAZ members who applied for land in Mashonaland Central province were told to join a long waiting list of more than 26 000 people, Marisa said.

He said the scenario was the same in Mashonaland West province where the authorities are yet to identify land for the private medical practitioners, while there was little progress in the Midlands, Matabeleland North and South provinces.

“We are confident that you [President Mnangagwa] will surely assist us further as we appreciate you as a man of action. We are trying to avoid the demoralisation of our members at this juncture when we are putting all our efforts to support you,” he said.

MDPPAZ secretary-general Cletos Masiya urged members of the organisation to utilise the land that they would have applied for and to avoid taking huge tracts of land which would not be unutilised.