Zimbabwe secures deal to revamp hospitals

ZIMBABWE and Belarus yesterday signed a deal that will see the country’s health sector undergoing a major transformation and modernisation, starting with Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in Harare.

This emerged yesterday during the signing of eight Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between Zimbabwe and Belarus that were witnessed by leaders of the two countries, President Mnangagwa and President Aleksandr Lukashenko.

Significantly, an agreement was signed focusing on the revamping of Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and strengthening partnerships in health.

In an interview, the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube, said Government is going to make sure that citizens receive quality healthcare.

“The health sector is very important for us as a Government to focus on, to make sure that our citizens receive adequate health services. So we signed two agreements on that.

“The first agreement has to do with the physical infrastructure, the quality of the physical infrastructure, the equipment, where people are admitted. And we have targeted Parirenyatwa because this is our major referral hospital in the country in terms of size.

“So here we want to upgrade Parirenyatwa Hospital, different aspects of it, the quality of the areas for outpatients, for example, ambulatory services, the paediatric unit, the maternity side, all that is important about that hospital will be targeted in this upgrade. We are so impressed with the quality of health facilities here in Belarus and we want to match those standards and they are prepared to support us in matching those standards,” he said.

Apart from that, Prof Ncube said there is also a need to improve the quality of the equipment in the country’s hospitals to meet world standards.

“The second agreement has to do with the acquisition of pharmaceuticals, the drugs, and so forth. We want to make sure that we have adequate drugs and all the key drugs, and we will be sourcing some of the drugs here.

“It won’t be the only source of drugs globally, but we like Belarus to be one of the sources because they have got very good drugs, they are affordable, and we signed an agreement to that effect,” he said.

The minister said from Parirenyatwa, the upgrading of health facilities will trickle down to every provincial and district hospital.

“The programme will cascade right across the country, targeting mainly the referral hospitals and upgrading those to make sure that we have quality infrastructure supporting our people.”

Asked to give timeframes within which the health sector will be revitalised to meet global standards, Prof Ncube said they will move with speed in terms of implementation of the signed agreements and acquisition of equipment.

“In fact, what will move faster is actually the acquisition of drugs and pharmaceuticals because it’s a matter of placing an order initially. But the second phase has to do with production of pharmaceuticals locally within Zimbabwe.

“We are exploring a joint venture agreement so that we can produce not just for Zimbabwe but for the whole region in the area of pharmaceuticals. But for drug acquisition, that is with immediate effect. We have to move with speed.

“Of course, infrastructure development at Parirenyatwa, that always takes time. So that’s more intermediate. But again, we want to move as fast as possible.”

On his part, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere, said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in the field of Information and Press seeks to finalise the digitalisation and transition from analogue to digital.

“In terms of Vision 2030, we have got one of the most important pillars, which is the engagement and re-engagement pillar, which primarily focuses on the management of our international relations. But not only in terms of political science and international relations, but of great importance is the fact that our visit to Minsk, Belarus, is to deepen our economic, technical and bilateral cooperation in the sphere of international relations.

“Of great importance is that the agreement which we have signed today in Minsk is also to finalise the digitalisation and the transition from analogue to digital, as we seek to ensure that we achieve 100 percent media and technological sovereignty for our country,” he said.

Dr Muswere said the agreement comes in handy as it enhances the collaboration between the Belarusian news agents and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

“And at the same time, the agreement also covers areas including transmedia, the transmission of the signal from analogue to digital. So these are some of the issues that we discussed and agreed. We have fixed a two-year period as part of the ZimDigital Phase 2 project and we are very confident that this agreement will enhance our capacity as we seek to ensure that we cover the whole country in terms of signal distribution,” he said.

Dr Muswere added that one of the agreements also includes human capital development, which focuses primarily on exchange in terms of media expertise.

“We have the same circumstances. Both countries have been sanctioned. Both countries have been affected by social media imperialism, which affects the sovereignty of nations in terms of data and digital sovereignty in the context of Zimbabwe as a country. So all of this is well catered for in terms of the new agreement, which is going to enhance the architecture in terms of the media and broadcasting sector in Zimbabwe,” he said.

Some of the agreements signed also include waste management, which is part of Vision 2030.

Geo Pomona Waste Management executive chairman and chief executive ufficer Dr Dilesh Nguwaya said they are ready to transform the country’s waste management systems.

“Geo Pomona has gone a step up because we want to replicate what we are doing in Harare to all the remaining nine provinces, where we are going to deal with all the refuse waste collection. We are going to collect the whole area and we are going to manage all the waste remaining in the country. We have secured trucks, equipment and water treatment plants,” he said.

“We are now going to water treatment plants because all the dam sites have leachate water, dead water. We need a water treatment plant to clean the leachate water which is in the dam site so that the water will be safe to the environment.

“There is leachate water which is underground, which comes from the waste. So this is the purpose of this water treatment plant, so that we treat the water which is in the dam site. This water is then used for irrigation or to cool the turbine in the waste energy plant. It’s a big project. It’s going to cover the whole country in terms of refuse collection and also waste management equipment. When we visited the companies we were very impressed. They have new technology. We are ready to partner with them.”

The deals signed yesterday are expected to be game-changers for Zimbabwe as they will be implemented immediately with focus on people impacting projects in the same scope with the farm mechanisation programme that has led to increased yields and enhanced food security.

Source: Herald