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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
ISOLATION centres and quarantine facilities in Gwanda are under renovation and are expected to be functional by the end of the week.

Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs Minister Abednico Ncube toured the Gwanda District Hospital and Phakama Clinic which are the district’s Covid-19 isolation centres.

In an interview during a tour, acting district medical officer, who is also acting Gwanda Provincial Hospital Medical Superintendent, Dr Blessed Gwarimbo said the district has two isolation centres and three quarantine facilities.

He said rural health centres have set aside a room to be used as an isolation point.

Dr Gwarimbo said they have identified quarantine centres at Guyu Vocational Training Centre, Joshua Mqabuko Polytechnic College and at DDF Depot.

“Isolation centre renovations started last week, various partners are assisting us with these works. So far, the works underway include painting, plumbing, electrification, water connections, oxygen tanks. By the end of the week we hope to be done with renovating the isolation centres. In the meantime, we have opened temporary isolation centres in wards in case we receive a Covid-19 case while renovations are underway,” he said.

“At Gwanda Provincial Hospital isolation centre we have a capacity of 16 beds which isn’t enough as we prefer to have at least 48 beds. At Phakama Clinic isolation centre we have seven beds but we are extending it so that it can accommodate 48 beds, Joshua Mqabuko Polytechnic College quarantine centre has 50 beds while DDF quarantine centre has 24 beds.”

Dr Gwarimbo said partners who were helping include Blanket Mine, PPC Mine, How Mine and Vumba Chikwe Mine. He said Government had also allocated money that was being used to buy some of the equipment.

Dr Gwarimbo said they were also working on distributing resources such as sanitisers, face masks and test kits to rural health centres which were isolation points.

He said the district was prepared for returnees that will be coming back. Dr Gwarimbo said they have identified quarantine centres at Guyu Vocational Training Centre, Joshua Mqabuko Polytechnic College and at DDF.

He said they had so far have received 15 returnees that were coming from Botswana.

Dr Gwarimbo assured members of the public that health centres in the district were still offering services to patients despite work being done to curb the spread of Covid-19.

“There was misinformation to members of the public concerning other services that we are providing. We are saying that we haven’t closed down any services and we are not turning away any patients. The community is free to come to the hospital or visit any health centre. We are still doing immunisation and we are still concentrating on malaria. We are saying among other things, Covid is the priority right now but we are not saying other conditions are not a priority because we cannot ignore malaria, hypertension or any other condition because of Covid,” he said.

Speaking during his tour, Cde Ncube urged stakeholders to assist in developing the infrastructure.

“The purpose of my visit is to check on the level of preparedness in isolation and quarantines centres in the district. Let’s all come in and assist in developing our infrastructure to ensure that our isolation and quarantine facilities are up to standard. I would like to thank those who have assisted,” he said. — @DubeMatutu