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Dr David Parirenyatwa

Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT has embarked on a programme to construct houses for health personnel as part of measures to improve conditions of service.

The Government has since invited private companies and development partners to partner it in the construction project.

In a joint statement yesterday, the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa and the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Patrick Chinamasa said Government was geared towards promoting increased participation by the private sector in the provision of health care services.

The accommodation project is meant for doctors, nurses and related health sector professionals and employees.

“We’re inviting interested private sector investors and other technical institutions in health care to partner Government in the provision of infrastructure mainly in the form of accommodation and housing facilities for all health personnel at central, provincial, district and mission hospitals as well as clinics and health centres across the country,” said the two ministers.

“Investment models will include joint ventures, build-operate-transfer (BOT), build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT), design-build-finance-operate and maintain (DBFOM) and rehabilitate-operate-transfer as may be preferred by would be investors in this programme.”

They said Government has instructed the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) to ensure the involvement of private sector investment into health infrastructure provision with particular focus on accommodation for health workers.

“This programme will be implemented in two phases and shall apply to facilities’ requirements for the country’s six central hospitals, eight provincial hospitals, 63 district hospitals, 43 mission hospitals and 1 200 health centres,” said Ministers Parirenyatwa and Chinamasa.

“Phase one, which begins in 2018 will cater for central, provincial and district hospitals in terms of their staff accommodation and housing facilities while phase two will address the remaining requirements for mission hospitals and health centres countrywide.”

The programme, the ministers added, was in line with Zim-Asset and the 2016-2020 National Health Strategy to sustain the sector through a comprehensive response to the burden of diseases.