Harare health facility with links to controversial tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei has taken over a section of the Bulawayo United Hospitals (UBH) where it will open a Covid-19 treatment centre.
The deal between Arundel Hospital and UBH has, however,
raised eyebrows as it was not put to tender since it involves a public asset. Arundel
Hospital has already started recruiting
health staff for the UBH Covid-19 facility.
In the job advertisements, it said it was “opening a
Covid-19 centre at United Bulawayo Hospital in partnership with the government
of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Health.”“The centre will be an extension of
Arundel Hospital,” it added.
“Arundel Hospital will be responsible for remuneration and
welfare of staff. We are, therefore,
looking for suitable qualified and experienced candidates to fill the following
positions on a one-year fixed term contract.”
Arundel Hospital in Harare was officially opened by
President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year where he heaped praises on Tagwirei.
The oil tycoon has been accused of unfairly dipping into
state coffers through murky government contracts ranging from command
agriculture to fuel deals.
Observers say the government decision to hand over part of a critical public facility, such as UBH, opened avenues
for corruption.
Tagwirei’s takeover of a section of the UBH follows a year
of dithering by government over the setting of Covid-19 treatment centres in
the southern region.
Political analyst Effie Ncube said the health facility will
only benefit the elite, leaving the poor struggling to attain quality health
services.
Ncube said priorities should have been placed on availing
outstanding resources to the already allocated facilities before embarking on
new projects.
“One would have hoped that the priority would be to equip
the already existing facilities which are crying for help, like Thorngrove and
Ekusileni. Facilities such as Thorngrove has the ability to accomodate the most
ordinary residents of Bulawayo and Matabeleland region,” he said.
“By neglecting these centers and opting to finance a
different center, it would affect the rest of the struggling majority. This
shows that the poor people in the region and the country at large are on their
own. There is an urgent need to reconfigure the priorities by those that are
responsible for the provision of health services.”
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD)
programmes manager John Maketo said the government should desist from
privatising critical services.
“Overally speaking I think the concern would be the
deteriorating state of our health service delivery in the country and
privatization of public service such as
health and education, those are the major concerns from the citizen
perspective,” he said.
According to an investigation carried out by CITE,
Bulawayo’s quarantine hospitals have poor facilities that do not meet World
Health Organisation’s (WHO) minimum standards. The designated health centres
are Ekusileni Medical Centre, Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital and UBH.
Bulawayo City Council-run Thorngrove Infectious Diseases
Hospital is partially open and has no ventilator to support critically ill
patients.
Ekusileni Medical Centre is also yet to open its doors. The
Roman Catholic Church owned Mater Dei
charges at least US$3 000, which is beyond the reach of most Bulawayo residents.
Acting UBH acting chief executive officer
Narcisious Dzvanga defended the Arundel Hospital deal.
Dzvanga said although they were still in the process of
finalising the memorandum of understanding with Arundel Hospital, equipment for
the Covid-19 centre had already been delivered.
“They will bring in all the needed equipment and will pay
all members of staff while providing free treatment for the people of
Bulawayo,” he said.
“UBH will only be overseeing (the project). At the moment they have brought 40 intensive
care unit beds.
“The drafting has been done and there are only a few
corrections that need to be done to finalise the memorandum of understanding. However,
the corrections will not stop the deliveries from being done.”
Questioned on the differences between the Arundel Hospital
centre at UBH and the Old Bartley Memorial Block, Dzvanga said: “Arundel is
going to be run by philanthropist, on a philanthropic bases, they will bring
everything from equipment, staff and yet still provide free treatment services
to the people of the region”.
Meanwhile, Ekusileni Medical Centre acting chief executive
officer Absalom Dube said the facility, which has failed on several occasions
to open, is likely to become open its doors anytime from now.
An initiative by Bulawayo residents known as IAM4BYO has
been mobilising resources from locals and those from the diaspora to help
reopen the place.
“There has been progress of late, the only hold up is the
infrastructure development, ” Dube said. “Once that is completed, we will be
able to open our doors.
“Our contractor has given us up to February 28 to finish up
then after that we will then be only left with establishing how many beds and
monitors we can put up.” cite.org.zw
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