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Fungi Kwaramba in KADOMA

LOCAL businesses must join Government in scaling up implementation of projects and programmes which improve livelihoods of citizens, including in the health sector where access is being constantly improved for all—including for the vulnerable and marginalised, President Mnangagwa has said.

Health, the President said, was central to human happiness since healthy populations lived longer and contributed more to economic development.

This is in sync with the collective national vision to make Zimbabwe an upper middle class economy by 2030, and also in tandem with the Sustainable Development Goals, the African Union Agenda 2063 and vital towards Universal Health Coverage.

Government has made tremendous progress in the health sector, progress which is measurable in the maternal mortality rate which declined by 15 percent between 2019 and 2022, and malaria deaths that declined by over 67 percent over the same period.

In addition, Zimbabwe was removed from the list of high tuberculosis burden countries by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Such progress is being registered because of massive investments in the critical health sector where specialists are being trained and deployed to every corner of the world in a development that leaves no one and no place behind.

Apart from the training of specialists, conditions of service for health workers are also being improved while infrastructure is being built.

People living with disabilities welcome President Mnangagwa to the Muduvuri Pan-African Referral Hospital in Kadoma yesterday. — Pictures: Believe Nyakudjara

Putting shoulder to the wheel, some businesses are complementing Government efforts by heeding President Mnangagwa’s philosophy of “Nyika Inovakwa Nevene vayo”, which is also the theme of this year 43rd Independence celebrations.

Yesterday, President Mnangagwa officially opened the outpatient department, male and female wards at Muduvuri Pan African Hospital, which is a brainchild of Kadoma businessman Mr Jimayi Muduvuri.

“Let me at the onset commend Cde Muduvuri for this noble initiative, which is in keeping with our focus to have people-driven development, relying on the potential of the Zimbabwean people. Well done, Makorokoto, Amhlophe, Congratulations,” President Mnangagwa said.

“The efforts I have witnessed here are a manifestation of our philosophy, ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo, Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo’. Cde Muduvuri and his team have taken a step which should be emulated by all patriotic and progressive Zimbabweans. This is a kind gesture and an act of good corporate citizenship. Further, it is a testimony to the fact that the bold and strategic decisions taken by the Second Republic to restructure and reform the Public Health sector in our country are yielding results”.

Drawing lessons from the works of Cde Muduvuri, the local business community was challenged to play its part.

“Going forward, local business people are urged to take a leaf from this project, and scale up the implementation of projects and programmes which contribute to improved standards of living of the citizenry. That way, collective investments in various areas, including the health sector, among others, must result in the continued improvement in the quality of life for all Zimbabweans,” President Mnangagwa said.

Named the Pan African Hospital, the institution reflects the pan-African aspirations of the continent, which includes the realisation of health and well-being of all its citizens.

“This includes the realisation of health and well-being of our citizens, including those with disabilities and the vulnerable.

“Such aspects of our aspirations must be reproduced in the long term operations and service to the citizens, while keeping alive the legacies of the founding fathers, from which some of the wards at this health institution have been named after,” added the President.

Through the Devolution and Decentralisation Agenda, Zimbabwe has in the past few years witnessed massive construction of clinics almost in every part of the country.

“At the national level, the ongoing construction of Lupane Provincial Hospital is being accelerated.

“In the same vein, our partnership with NMS Infrastructure is bearing fruit, with the state-of-the-art health centre in Cowdray Park, Bulawayo Metropolitan Province now complete and ready to open its doors to our citizenry,” President Mnangagwa said.

Yesterday’s ceremony was attended by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care, Zanu PF Vice President Kembo Mohadi, Defence and War Veterans Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Chris Mutsvangwa, Zanu PF Secretary for the Commissariat Cde Mike Bimha, thousands of people, mainly those living with disabilities and senior Government officials.

Two of the wards were named after the President’s late parents Mhurai and Mafidi while another section was named after the late Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda.

Befittingly, envoys from countries like Zambia, Ghana, and Russia were at the official opening of this Pan African health institution.

In his remarks, Cde Muduvuri said he was inspired by President Mnangagwa.

“I am a Zimbabwean and African businessman who is living with a disability. I once asked myself why I am disabled but the answer is here today in this hospital. I have visited all the 10 provinces, and I was inspired by your help in 2007 when I underwent leg operations in South Africa.

“I said since I was helped by you, I made it my goal to assist other disabled people across the country. In 2021, having survived Covid-19,  I spent two months in a coma in hospital, and I thought of bringing a hospital to Kadoma,” said Cde Muduvuri.