MPILO Central Hospital and the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) have been each installed with a 350-kilowatt solar power system to provide uninterrupted power supplies in the face of rolling electricity outages.
The solar systems were installed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the government.
During a tour on Wednesday, UBH acting clinical director Trust Mushawarima said reliable power would ensure minimal disruptions to clinical services.
“This initiative is going to give us sustainable power, it will ensure that all machines are running 24/7,” Mushawarima said.
“This is a good gesture to us; clinical services are not going to be interrupted as we are working.”
Mushawarima said the hospitals’ electricity bill would also be cut.
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“It is going to cut our electricity costs in the long term because we will be able to feed into the national grid and even cut our expenditure in terms of costs,” he said.
“So it will save us money, which we will be able to channel to other clinical services. This will definitely improve service delivery in this hospital.”
At least 19 local council clinics are now powered by solar, it emerged during the tour.
UNDP resident representative Ayodele Odusola hailed the partnership with the Health and Child Care ministry.
“Zimbabwe is one of the few countries in the world that has what the future of energy has in terms of lithium,” Odusola said.
“Let’s try our best to see what we can do, not only to maintain, but sustain and expand these projects to maximise the benefit of the solar system.”
In an unrelated matter, Mpilo director of operations Joel Charangwa said the construction of one of the largest waste management plants at the hospital was almost complete.
“It is a massive project. It’s going to be able to incinerate waste generated in the entire Bulawayo and even beyond,” he said.
“It has the capacity to incinerate for the whole region. It is a game changer in terms of waste management in the country.”