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Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau

Government is finalising the acquisition of 100 ambulances to improve service delivery at public health institutions, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube said the process had taken longer than necessary.

He said the tender system had taken over one year to gain traction.

Minister Ncube made the remarks during his visit to Beitbridge recently while responding to concerns raised by MPs for Beitbridge East and West Cdes Albert Nguluvhe and Ruth Maboyi respectively.

Minister Ncube said under the new ambulance project, each province will get between five and seven ambulances.

“I have noted the concerns from the local parliamentarians, (Nguluvhe and Maboyi). Let me also advise you that we are at the final stage of acquiring 100 ambulances,” he said.

“We should have done this last year but the tender process took longer than expected and was only finalised recently. The idea is to deliver at least five or seven ambulances to each province with priority being areas like Beitbridge and Plumtree which handle a high volume of human traffic from Botswana and South Africa respectively.”

Minister Ncube said efforts were being made to improve the quality of health services and infrastructure but Government’s main focus was on combating Covid-19.

The Minister said drugs were being procured for chronic ailments but the processes was being affected by the lockdowns across the world.

On infrastructure development, Prof Ncube said local authorities should make use of Devolution Funds to fund some of the projects.

“We have also heard about the shortage of clinics and schools and we are saying while the issue is being looked at, let the local authorities make use of the devolution funds to address these priority areas,” he said.

According to Cdes Nguluvhe and Maboyi, the state of affairs in Beitbridge was disheartening considering that one ambulance is servicing a local population of 250 000 people and 13 000 others in transit daily.

They said poor health service delivery system in the area had been made worse by thieves who are targeting solar panels at key institutions among them schools and clinics.

In some instances, health officials have to store drugs at the district hospital where there is electricity but this had logistical challenges in case of an emergency.