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Dr Moyo

Lovemore Meya Herald Correspondent
Chitungwiza Central Hospital and residents have formed a Medical Insurance Fund that will assist people access health services, an official has said. The fund is aimed at raising at least $1,5 million needed for services provided at the hospital per month. The hospital’s chief executive, Dr Obadiah Moyo, said in an interview that the idea was conceived due to a number of challenges.

“We are experiencing a number of challenges and it is essential in each and every hospital that there be adequate ‘hospital’ attire,” said Dr Moyo.
“Every patient who comes in must be given their own clean attire so that they do not use their own clothes since it is unhygienic for people to come in their own clothes. We would like to see people coming in and getting attires so that it becomes easier also to clean them in the morning before going to bed.

“By doing this we are trying to avoid the infections from outside, which will be passed on to the next patient. In some instances, our patients use sheets to wrap themselves in when going to theatre as a result of shortage of linen.” He said it has become very difficult for them to raise money to buy such commodities like linen.

“The main concentration has been on drugs, X-rays and the laboratory tests. We have to make sure that we also look at the linen issue. It is very difficult to say I can create partnership in the supply of linen because patients are not paying for that. It is part of the hotel service, which takes care of the food the patient eats, the blankets and sheets that they sleep in and the cleanliness around the ward. There is medical services, which covers drugs, laboratory radiology and theatre service,” said Dr Moyo. Dr Moyo said they cannot charge their patients for linen services.

“It has to be funds coming directly from the hospital or Treasury. Treasury has got no funds at the moment so we at Chitungwiza are working in partnership with a community. We have come up with a trust fund (Medical Insurance Fund) we support very strongly that cater for all the people around Chitungwiza as a community.  They will be able to generate income to be used for them to access services at the hospital. Each person will be paying $4 per month and we are expecting a minimum number of 500 000 people. We are not only servicing Chitungwiza, but other areas like Glen Norah, Harare South, Epworth and Hatfield,” he said. He said the community has already started setting up the fund, which will be launched soon.