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Paidamoyo Chipunza, Harare Bureau

Government has embarked on a massive rehabilitation programme of public health institutions which is expected to see an improvement in standard and availability of critical health services in the country, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo has said.

Dr Moyo said the programme which is going to be implemented in partnership with private players provided for under the 2015 Joint Ventures Act, will initially earmark central hospitals, after which similar joint ventures will cascade down to other health institutions throughout the country.

Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Mpilo Central Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals have since called for bidders interested in partnering the respective institutions to refurbish and re-equip various sections of the hospitals to modern standards. 

Successful firms or consortiums will also operate a super-specialty hospital wing within each institution.

“We want to make sure that the healthcare facilities are of very high level, providing first class service. We want to make sure that our customers access affordable services, which is also within easy rich so we want to make sure that all the facilities are all rehabilitated. 

“Our facilities had gone for a long time without undergoing major rehabilitation and at the same time we also need to replenish all the institutions with medicine, surgical sundries so that it make sense,” said Dr Moyo.

“We cannot be able to address all these problems alone as Government that is why you hear the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra and this is not just in other industries, it includes the healthcare industry as well.”

Dr Moyo said the super-specialty hospitals are meant to mitigate the burden of patients travelling outside the country to seek specialist services. He said in that regard, Government was seeking to partner with investors with financial capability as well as that expertise for specialty services to impart to local professionals.

“So it is not just a matter of partners for the sake of partners. It’s partners who have the capability to train our people, who can be able to set up all the relevant high quality set up in our institutions,” said Dr Moyo.

Dr Moyo said this latest development is an improvement of the Chitungwiza Central Hospital model in which institutions provide services for those who can afford and those who cannot afford but using the same facilities.

“Chitungwiza Central Hospital has already been running that type of joint venture partnership (JVP) and that is what has made the hospital survive but obviously, we also realised that we also have to improve the working arrangement with our partners,” said Dr Moyo.

He said already some investors have shown interest in partnering Government in this initiative with some projects already at an advanced stage of implementation. “And already we have had some responses for Parirenyatwa Hospital, there are some foreign investors who have shown some interest. We are just waiting to finalise that.

“UBH has already entered into some other arrangements in orthopaedic services and they are at a very advanced stage,” he said.