Health authorities have appealed to the corporate world in
the coal mining town to assist with a laundry machine as the current situation
strains resources.
The 5-Miles was
constructed more than a decade ago and was meant to be a district hospital for
Hwange but was not completed with some
of its structures being condemned by Government for being substandard.
Located about 10km outside Hwange, one of the buildings was
upgraded last year for use as a Covid-19 isolation centre with a capacity of 10
people. As of yesterday there was one patient left after others were
discharged.
Chronicle understands that staff at the facility have been
driving to Victoria Falls to get blankets and bedding washed. The facility uses the single ambulance that
services public health facilities in Hwange to carry the linen for washing.
They would leave the blankets there return to Hwange before
driving again to pick the load, making four trips of about 440km. At most there
will be between 10 and 20 blankets and bedding.
The blankets can only be washed at Victoria Falls Hospital
as the nearby Lukosi Hospital does not have a washing machine while at St
Patrick’s the machine is not working. Hwange Colliery is a private hospital and
charges for the washing.
The Hwange Covid-19 taskforce is appealing for help. “We
are having a challenges in the management of linen at 5-Miles with the limited
resources we have as our sister hospitals refused to do the laundry for us.
Currently we are taking linen to Victoria Falls
for washing and it costs us fuel for 400 km as we do two
trips for less than 20 blankets. One trip is to leave the load to be washed and
another one to collect. Our appeal is that we get a laundry machine and even
save the ambulance from wear and tear,” said the taskforce team.
Hwange District Medical Officer Dr Fungayi Musinami-Mvura
said the frequency of trips depends on the number of people housed at the
facility at any given time and seriousness of their condition as blankets for those
with severe conditions or heavily sweating is changed regularly.
“We made the appeal when we started operating at 5-Miles
that there is no kitchen as we have to cook off-site at Lukosi and no laundry
machine or incinerator and oxygen machines. Hwange Colliery offered to
help with the incinerator while we got a few cylinders for
oxygen. Lukosi does not have a washing machine and the St Patrick’s one is
broken down, so because patients have been continuously coming we had to find
an alternative and they had no option but to take the linen to Victoria Falls,”
said Dr Musinami-Mvura.
She said bedding has to be soaked first before washing
hence it has to be dropped and collected later. Chronicle
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