Speaking during a visit to Gwanda on Friday, NSSA director
of occupational safety and health Dr Charles Shava said this was part of
efforts to augment the pension money which was being given to pensioners.
He said they were set to visit a number of districts in
various provinces across the country offering free medical services.
Health experts attended to pensioners with various medical
conditions from morning until afternoon who turned up at the Pelandaba Stadium
in Gwanda town.
“We are running a mobile clinic targeting our pensioners as
part of non-monetary benefits for our pensioners.
“We know that whatever money we can give them won’t be
enough so as part of our assistance to them we are running clinics in various
districts across the country.
“The main challenge which our pensioners have are chronic
diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, eye problems and any
other conditions.
“In the process we are doing a needs assessment to identify
the major problems for pensioners in Gwanda. We are doing this in conjunction
with our other responsibilities as you know as NSSA we deal with problems of
the work space such as injuries and diseases at the workplace so our mobile
clinic is also assessing diseases across our major sectors such as mining,” he
said
Mr Shava said they had already visited Zvishavane and after
Gwanda they will visit Bulawayo.
Ms Rachael Ncube from Gwanda who is a pensioner said the
service being offered by NSSA will go a long way in assisting her to cover her
medical costs.
She said each month she had to use about R200 to buy
medication for BP and diabetes. Ms Ncube said the money she was getting each
month for her pension was not enough to cater for her medical costs and basic
needs.
Another pensioner Mr Modas Moyo said there was a need for
NSSA to frequently come in with these non-monetary benefits as the money they
were paying pensioners could not cater for the basics. Sunday News
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