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The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Cde Prisca Mupfumira (left) chats with Mr Romeo Siwale, a patient undergoing rehabilitation treatment in the Physiotherapy Department during her tour of the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Centre at Mpilo hospital yesterday. — Picture by Dennis Mudzamiri

Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT has embarked on a campaign to attract investors for the re-opening of the Ekusileni Hospital, which has been lying idle for 14 years.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Prisca Mupfumira yesterday expressed optimism on the re-opening of the specialist hospital, saying a number of investors had expressed interest in running the medical institution.

“I’m worried about Ekusileni Hospital because it has gone for more than 14 years without being operational. My ministry on behalf of the National Social Security Authority (NSSA), which built the hospital, handed it over to the Ministry of Health and Child Care.

“We have therefore partnered with the Ministry of Health in campaigning for investors to come and run the hospital. I’m happy that we have investors from China, India and other countries who have expressed interest in partnering the Government,” said Minister Mupfumira in an interview after the NSSA Rehabilitation Centre Open Day in Bulawayo yesterday.

She said the two ministries would soon be negotiating with the potential investors, adding that one of the conditions set by Government is that the institution must be a specialist hospital.

Dr Parirenyatwa last week acknowledged that the Bulawayo community was frustrated that the hospital has not opened its doors to the public for more than a decade.

He said efforts were being made to make sure that the hospital, which was the brainchild of the late nationalist and Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo, is fully operational.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care recently appointed a committee chaired by Matabeleland North Provincial Medical Director Dr Nyasha Masuka to identify an appropriate investor to partner Government in the running of the hospital.

The specialist hospital was built in 2001 and was shut down in 2004 shortly after opening its doors to the public.

This was after it was discovered that the acquired equipment, worth millions of dollars, was obsolete.

The hospital has been undergoing renovations over the past two years due to the damage on infrastructure caused by termites.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care has on several occasions ordered the Government to re-open the hospital, saying the facility was slowly crumbling.

—@pamelashumba1