BY STYLE CORRESPONDENT
Mater Dei Hospital is undergoing massive transformation with the hope of bringing patient service provision closer to the health institution for the benefit of the patient.
The project is estimated to be completed in 12-18 months and costs around US$2 million.
Mater Dei Hospital, which was founded by the Franciscan missionaries of the Divine Motherhood almost 70 years ago after their arrival in Bulawayo on February 2, 1952, has grown from a basic hospital facility to the multi-discipline entity, serving the greater Bulawayo and regional population.
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bulawayo community responded exceptionally well, and through the generosity of many, the hospital established within three months a first class Covid-19 isolation unit, which has been ranked as the best in Zimbabwe. It has directly contributed to saving many lives.
“The Covid-19 pandemic taught us that reliance on foreign medical services has been taken for granted with travel out of the country for medical treatmentall but impossible of late,” the hospital administration said in a statement.
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“By making expanded medical facilities available locally, such travel may not then be necessary in future.
“This is to the advantage of the general Bulawayo public, employers and employees alike, and this is what has motivated the development project at the hospital.”
Integrated health care is becoming a widely accepted concept, with a move towards preventative screening and catching medical conditions early.
This, according to the hospital, is generally offered in primary health centres’ where common screening tests are conducted, and the Mater Dei Hospital is including such a facility in the development.
“The development project will involve the construction of a number of buildings to house a retail pharmacy and a refreshment facility, a kidney dialysis unit with 18 beds, an integrated hospital health care unit (consisting of rooms for diagnostic endoscopic procedures, dental practice, audiology, VIAC, ophthalmology, general health care, pre- and post-natal clinic, orthopaedic fitment, etc) and consulting rooms for 16 doctors,” read the statement.
“The net result of this development will be to bring patient service provision closer to the hospital, for the benefit of the patient.”
The hospital administration said a number of companies provided donations and other financial assistance that will see the reduction of the eventual cost.
“Very generous financing terms have been offered to the hospital by the contractor JR Goddard Contracting (Pvt) Ltd without which the project could not have come to fruition,” the administration said.
“Once completed, this exciting project will have significantly improved the medical facilities that are available to the Bulawayo public.”