Orthopaedics Centre at UBH
UNITED Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) is set to open the first specialised Orthopaedics Centre in the country in April, a move that will benefit the country and other countries in the Sadc region, Sunday News has learnt.
In an interview, UBH acting chief executive officer Mr Richard Sithole said the centre which will be a private hospital was being remodelled into an orthopaedic hospital through a public and private partnership with Zimbabwe Orthopaedic Trust (ZOT).
“Our project is a public-private partnership, it is a joint venture between UBH and ZOT. We tried to refurbish the building when it burnt down in 2013 but we could not get the required amount of money to do so. At that time it was not of much priority to us so we put it on hold until we found a partner who said he wanted to refurbish the building under the build, operate and transfer (BOT) model. We entered into a contract with ZOT in 2017 whereby they injected US$2,5 million and said they are going to renovate the building and use it strictly for orthopaedic issues,” he said.
Mr Sithole said the investor had already injected all the required money and the project is 95 percent complete.
“The investor has already injected that money with US$1 million in the physical refurbishment of the old building that had been burnt and the construction of three completely new theatres. The other US$1,5 million is for equipment that is going to be used in the centre.
“In December, we received three containers of equipment and we are expecting two more with the equipment for the rooms within the first quarter of this year. By April we are going to officially open the hospital to the public,” Mr Sithole said.
He said the terms of the contract gives ZOT a period of 30 years to work on their premises.
“We are going to have our doctors gaining experience because we will be having specialists from outside the country. When we second our doctors there, they are going to benefit knowledge too as well as other staff members. Also, this will be the only hospital in Zimbabwe that will be training post basic students in Orthopaedics,” he said.
He said in terms of the community benefiting they had agreed that members of staff, especially general hands, were going to be locals recruited from the community and that children from the age of one to 18 will be treated free.
The building was initially used to cater for people with infectious diseases but those patients are now catered for at council clinics.
Mr Sithole also said the institution would be holding an eye camp this month courtesy of Dr Steve Beaty, a US-based Ophthalmologist.
“There is an eye camp that we will be holding this month. This not the first time such an event is being carried out as we have a long-standing relationship with the doctors and so we have been doing this for quite a long time. This is actually a good thing for us because they impart the knowledge they have with our doctors and help a lot of people for free with eye problems.
“We also have a relationship with the Islamic Medical Association who also carry out those eye camps.
“What they do is that when they are coming our doctors screen people who need specialised treatment or surgeries. So once they list people, the doctors come in for the surgeries at no cost. When they come, they bring their own equipment, surgical and sundries to use.”