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Specialist doctors have once again been challenged to pool resources together and operationalise Ekusileni Medical  Centre in Bulawayo. The 200- bed hospital built in 2000 at a cost of about $4 million in honour of the late Vice president Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, has been lying idle since then.

Many dates have been given for the re-opening of this state-of-the-art medical facility which operated for just seven months before it was closed in 2004 after failing to raise working capital to buy medical and diagnostic equipment but nothing concrete has come up.

The latest call for specialist doctors to pool their resources together to re-open the Medical Centre came from the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) board chairperson Mr Robin Vela. NSSA solely funded the construction of the hospital and Mr Vela said his organisation was keen to see the institution working.

Mr Vela said the country cannot continue to play the blame game while the hospital which is supposed to provide specialist medical services remained closed. He said Zimbabweans should come together and mobilise the required resources to enable the re-opening of this start-of-the-art health facility meant to serve not only the country but the entire Southern African region.

Mr Vela said if put to good use, Ekusileni could actually reduce the number of Zimbabwean patients seeking specialist services outside the country and associated costs. He said many Zimbabweans seek specialist treatment in countries such as South Africa, India and Russia but most of the specialist doctors working in these countries were Zimbabweans.

He said this was a confirmation that Zimbabwe has the required expertise and NSSA on its part had provided the required infrastructure through Ekusileni which local specialists could ride on. Mr Vela said NSSA was more than ready to hand over the Medical Centre to a group of specialist doctors to run the institution.

The hospital, the brainchild of Dr Nkomo, has all that is required when it comes to buildings and what is only needed is equipment and working capital.

Public funds were used to construct this hospital and this public investment cannot be allowed to go to waste. The buildings are deteriorating given the time the hospital has remained a white elephant and therefore its re-opening cannot be delayed further.

The hospital, as we have said before, is a bankable project whose returns are guaranteed. It is very encouraging that the owners of the buildings, NSSA, are keen to have the hospital re-opened and start offering services as soon as possible.

We however want to implore NSSA to go further than just offering the institution to doctors and find out why doctors have been reluctant to take over the hospital which in our view is just a walk in and its all systems go. What NSSA is demanding in rentals is probably regarded by doctors as prohibitive so there is a need to really get to the bottom of the problem so that the people can start enjoying the benefits of their investment.

It is a fact that most of the specialist doctors already have the equipment and there is definitely a reason why they are reluctant to move into this hospital which is strategically positioned between Bulawayo’s major hospitals, United Bulawayo Hospitals and Mater Dei Hospital.

We want to once again call on Mr Vela and his board to do all within their powers to entice specialist doctors to take over and run this important medical facility which is set to save many lives.