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Tendai Rupapa

Senior Reporter

Hundreds of people had painful teeth extracted, while others were screened for cervical cancer and vaccinated against Covid-19 courtesy of Health Ambassador Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, who spent a week in Kanyemba with a team of local and international medical experts providing free health checks to the community.

Family planning services and HIV testing and counselling services were also provided under the all-encompassing outreach programme which catered for people living in hard to reach areas.

Amai Mnangagwa brought along Angel of Hope Foundation’s partners including those who came from the United States of America.

This is not the first time that the mother of the nation has taken free medical services to Kanyemba.

District nursing officer for Mbire District Mindy Chipokosa praised the First Lady for the outreach programme, saying it would go a long way in saving lives.

“On behalf of the Ministry of Health and Child Care, we are grateful for the programme that has been brought by Amai in Kanyemba where we are meeting patients living in hard-to-reach areas who cannot visit clinics regularly for checks, but have come to access services that we are offering courtesy of our health ambassador the First Lady.  Amai also brought local and international dentists from the Angel of Hope Foundation whom we are working with.

“The services that we have at this outreach include dentistry where painful teeth are being plucked out. There are family planning services for women including pills, Jadel and depo that people are having free of charge. We are doing this at Chapoto Clinic. We are also providing HIV testing and counselling services. We are also providing covid-19 vaccination for those seeking dose 1, dose 2 or dose 3. Again, we are conducting eye examinations and we refer them where they will get further help,” she said.

Beneficiaries of the programme were thankful for the services they had received, courtesy of the First Lady and her foundation’s partners.

Medical personnel attend to patients during Angel of Hope Foundation free medical outreach organised by Health and Child Care Ambassador First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa in Kanyemba recently

Mr Never Kabudura could not hide his joy. “I wish to thank our mother who is assisting us with a programme to have dentistry checks and other health checks. Our wives are also being checked for cervical cancer and this is helpful in that diseases are detected early and people commence treatment early,” he said.

Mr Baya Zuzi said: “I am thankful for the assistance we are getting from our mother, the First Lady. Ever since she started visiting our area, she has never stopped checking on us, up to this day, our mother is remembering us here in Kanyemba.

“Today I have been treated free of charge by doctors. This is not the first time Amai has brought doctors on our door steps and for that we are grateful as a community.”

An elderly woman who got screened for cervical cancer for the first time, thanked Amai Mnangagwa for her love.

“I had never been screened for cervical cancer and this is the first time,” she said. “We are grateful to Amai, the First Lady, for what she has done and continues to do for us. She has brought a hospital to our doorstep.

“We feared trudging through the forests, which is full of wild animals, to get to the nearest clinic, but today we have been helped free of charge. We are appreciative of the services that have been rolled out for our benefit.”

Angel of Hope Foundation partners from the US, Mrs Roz Peterson and her husband Mr Guy Peterson, check the blood pressure of patients during a free medical outreach organised by First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa in Kanyemba recently.

In a separate interview, Mrs Roseline Peterson, a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who is based in the United States of America, praised the First Lady for the wonderful work she is doing countrywide.

Mrs Peterson and her husband, Guy Peterson, are in the country for humanitarian work in partnership with the Angel of Hope Foundation.

“I am here in Kanyemba, Zimbabwe, with the Angel of Hope Foundation,” she said. “We are so impressed with the wonderful work that Her Excellency does. We are so amazed at the wonderful people here. The community is so grateful and we are happy that the First Lady is gently working and walking with them.

Dentists attend to patients during a Angel of Hope Foundation free medical outreach organised by Health and Child Care Ambassador First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa in Kanyemba recently. — Pictures: John Manzongo

“They are so happy and they are so trusting of the dentists that are here. I feel very blessed that I can be a part of the team helping this community. Thank you Zimbabwe, we love all of you. So what we are doing is we are here with dentists that are doing extractions for teeth that need to be pulled. We first check their blood pressure and pulse as they come in because if their blood pressure is too high they have to wait.”

So passionate is the First Lady about the health of the people that she has covered the length and breadth of the country with her mobile clinic to provide cancer screening services and other health checks for the communities. She has also been mobilising resources for health facilities to ensure the country’s citizenry has access to improved health care.