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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Chronicle Reporter
EKUSILENI Medical Centre has opened its doors to the public with two Covid-19 patients having been admitted yesterday.

In an interview, the Ekusileni acting chief executive officer Dr Absolom Dube confirmed the development saying the institution was ready to handle more patients.

The hospital has been declared a national Covid-19 centre. The opening of the hospital will ease the pressure on other isolation centres in the city which were fast running out of bed space.

“We opened the hospital today and so far we have two Covid-19 patients that have been admitted. We have a capacity of about 70 beds but we will start by accommodating 20 patients because of limited staff and resources. This just a starting point but we plan to increase our capacity to 200 beds in the near future. We have had various partners coming in to assist us with food as well as other resources,” he said.

Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs, Judith Ncube said the opening of the hospital was a huge development not only to the province but the entire nation. She said the success was a result of collective effort from various partners.

“This development means a lot to us as people of the city of Bulawayo. Opening of this hospital has been long overdue and we thank the President who saw it fit that the institution should finally start operating. The hospital won’t only offer services to the people of Bulawayo but the entire nation.

“There is an upsurge of cases of Covid-19 and existing facilities couldn’t handle the increasing number of patients anymore, hence the need for Ekusileni to start operating. It was going to be embarrassing if as a city we were going to run out of space to accommodate Covid patients. Ekusileni is a big institution and once fully operational it will bring huge relief to other hospitals and ensure improved health care service,” said Minister Ncube.

She added: “I would like to thank the private and public sector, individuals, churches and other stakeholders for their input in making the project a success. I would also like to thank the media fraternity for its extensive coverage through this entire journey right up to now when the hospital is finally open. A lot of people volunteered, to make this job a success and I thank them as well.”

Minister Ncube urged various stakeholders to continue supporting the hospital up until it operates at full capacity.

Ekusileni Medical Centre was closed 20 years ago when its equipment was declared obsolete. The hospital, a brainchild of the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo, has experienced a number of false starts and numerous efforts to reopen it have failed.

Its premises are owned by the National Social Security Authority (Nssa) and it was opened in 2000 before it closed in 2001.

Last year in April, there was hope that the institution would be re-opened after the Government identified the centre as one of the institutions that was earmarked to house cases of the Covid-19 in the city.

The decision on the opening of Ekusileni Medical Centre comes after an assessment by the Health Professions Authority (HPA) team.

The team comprising 15 members, visited Ekusileni Medical Centre about two weeks ago to conduct an assessment on whether the health facility was ready to operate.

Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital, the United Bulawayo Hospitals and Mater Dei Hospital are the health institutions admitting Covid-19 patients in Bulawayo.

Last year, Government announced that the hospital will be transformed into a specialist teaching research hospital under the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), with Nssa tasked with operationalising the facility. — @DubeMatutu.