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Conrad Mupesa Mash West Correspondent
Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Engineer Michael Madhana has given the Karoi District Hospital an ultimatum to return an ambulance donated to the Nyamakate community by the National Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to service several accident black -spots in the area. Eng Madhana made the demand during a cleansing ceremony for the 43 victims of the King Lion bus accident at Nyakamete during the weekend after villagers had complained about the ambulance.

The ambulance, which was donated after the King Lion bus disaster in June, is parked at Karoi Hospital, some 60 kilometres away and villagers insist it was too far from accident spots. The villagers expressed concern that Karoi Hospital might use it to serve other areas and fail to help them when the need arises, which is often.

“The ambulance, which was donated by National Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to the Nyamakate community, should be returned so that it benefits the people from this area,” Eng Madhana said.

“The ministry and other stakeholders agree on where to put ambulances depending on the gravity of accidents witnessed in a particular area, hence the move to allocate Nyamakate an ambulance due to a number of black spots within its locality. So, I command you to bring that ambulance here without any failure.”

Eng Madhana said the need to relocate the ambulance to Nyamakate was to ensure timely assistance to accident victims. Hurungwe Rural District Council Ward 7 councillor Jealousy Matesanwa, who raised the issue, said they were concerned that the condition of the ambulance would continue to deteriorate if it remained in Karoi. “We are afraid that the ambulance will end up having mechanical faults as it is in constant use,” he said.

“As Nyamakate and Hurungwe communities, we feel that the ambulance should be moved from Karoi to either Nyamakate or Makuti for it to serve its intended purpose.”