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Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Correspondent
BULAWAYO now has five ventilators; three portable ones at Ekusileni Medical Centre and two to be mounted at Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital to be used by Covid-19 patients.

Ventilators are needed by critical Covid-19 patients or patients suffering from other ailments struggling to breathe needing intensive care.

All the five ventilators were donated by well-wishers.

At Ekusileni, the donation was made to ‘I-am-4-Bulawayo-Fighting Covid-19’ by Alliance Health while various companies and organisations also brought in an assortment of donations including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), computers, food and linen on Wednesday.

Q-rent, a company specialising in leasing computers donated three computers to the hospital for data capture, while Rainbow Tourism Group donated 300 pillows and pillow cases.

Bulawayo Events Corner, a grouping of events companies, donated twenty bags of 10kg mealie meal while E-Pap Zimbabwe donated instant fortified cereal.

Tassburg donated PPE for hospital staff. The donations were received by Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Judith Ncube.

“I feel encouraged to be leading such a city with the kind of people that we have. It’s consoling to know that we have people all around who are taking it upon themselves to ensure that our systems are up and running and to complement Government efforts. This spirit must prevail even beyond Covid-19 and those that have donated, no matter how big or small the donations, have all made a difference,” said the Minister.

“Government cannot walk the journey alone. Government leads and through the support of its people, greater strides are taken leading to greater achievements. Things are shaping up and we want to see this hospital opening its doors to the people soon.”

In a statement to Chronicle, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Senior Public Relations Officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said two other donated ventilators are to be installed at Thorngrove once renovations at the hospital are complete.

“The city has received two ventilators and a solar system for the isolation ward, solar panels, inverter batteries and solar geysers, which are to be installed when renovations are complete. An autoclave has been bought,” she said.

She could not immediately name the donor who brought the ventilators to Thorngrove.

The National University of Science and technology (NUST) has fixed one ventilator at the United Bulawayo Hospitals but it has to be certified safe for usage by medical professionals. After independent verification, the university is ready to restore seven others that have not been working for a long time. — @andile_tshuma.