The Sunday Mail
Leroy Dzenga
Senior Reporter
THE University of Zimbabwe’s Quinary Hospital, which is set to significantly reduce the amount of foreign currency spent by Zimbabweans seeking medical treatment abroad, will be operational next year, an official has said.
In an interview with this publication, University of Zimbabwe Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Mapfumo said work at the facility, located about 12 kilometres north of the Harare Central Business District on Mazowe Road, is gathering pace.
“The hospital is a super specialist hospital, where our postgraduate medical students and our advanced researchers from the medical and health fields will be offering specialist services to Zimbabweans and also people from far and wide.
“The idea is that Zimbabwe is placed at the centre of medical tourism and, instead of us sending people out, people will be sending patients to Zimbabwe,” said Prof Mapfumo.
The university will have key areas of specialisation, namely, Oncology, Cardiology, Feto-Maternal and Renal units.
“We will be buying specialist medical equipment to ensure that there is capacity to handle complicated cases.
“The project is being fully funded by Government,” said Prof Mapfumo.
He said Treasury is allocating funds in batches, according to needs.
“We are experiencing unprecedented financial support from the Government. We have many infrastructure projects which are being financed by the Government.
“The level of support has increased since the entry of the Second Republic,” Prof Mapfumo said.
The world over, university hospitals have a role to lead in the creation of knowledge, especially around rare diseases. People in need of urgent interventions can be subjected to experimental processes that are not yet widely applied throughout the world, but bear life-saving potential.
Engineer Silas Mkono, the engineer in charge of the project, said over 15 percent of construction is complete.
“On the administration building, platform earthworks are complete and we have also completed foundation civil works,” he said.
The pharmacy and oncology buildings are at concreting and brickwork stages. According to Engineer Mkono, currently, the project is employing 105 people and is expected to get to 200 at peak.
When the hospital is functional, Zimbabwe will join regional peers like South Africa, which has the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria and the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg.
At the launch of the National Surgical, Obstetric and Anaesthesia Strategy last month, Vice President and Health and Child Care Minister Dr Constantino Chiwenga indicated that super-specialist hospitals will be key in the implementation of the said strategy.
“My ministry has, therefore, ensured that this will be catered for through the newly introduced quinary level of care, which is the highest level of care,” said Vice President Chiwenga.
Twitter: @leedzenga
