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Mashonaland West Bureau
Government is seeking at least $1,5 million to rebuild a section of the Kariba District Hospital which was destroyed in an inferno in March this year.

The fire started in the pharmacy and spread to the X-ray department and the main theatre before fire-fighters contained the blaze.

In an interview recently, Mashonaland West provincial medical director Dr Wenceslaus Nyamayaro said investigations into the cause of the fire had been completed and they had been given the go ahead to start reconstructing the burnt section.

“So we need to destroy the whole section which was affected by the fire and get rid of the debris so that we can start the reconstruction,” he said.

“We are now waiting for resources. We have to start building a new block. We have written letters to the ministry and we are still waiting for response. We hope by the end of the year, something would have started happening at that hospital.”

Dr Nyamayaro said Government would need between $1 million and $1,5 million to complete the project. According to a forensic report and investigations conducted by the Forensic Science Department in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage and the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company respectively, the cause of the fire could not be established and it was not an electrical fault.

Department of Public Works director for Mashonaland West Engineer Trymore Mtizwa said while they could not dismiss foul play for the start of the fire, hospital staff should be cautious after using utensils and equipment in their laboratories.

“We suspect that the fire started in the X-ray room where we also found some utensils which could have been used by the staff, but we would want hospital staff to exercise caution and store all their equipment after use,” he said.

The fire destroyed all drugs from the pharmacy, the X-ray and ultra-sound machines. The fire also destroyed the emergency and casualty department and all the equipment while the theatre, which is mostly used for outpatients was also razed in the inferno.

The fire also destroyed all the information database for staff at the hospital.

Wards were not affected, although authorities were forced to discharge patience whose condition were not serious. There were 20 patients admitted at the 65-bed hospital when the fire broke out.

Further admissions at the hospital were also halted. New patients are being admitted at Nyamhunga Clinic as a stop-gap measure.