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Cde Shamu

Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
Government has hailed strategic tie-ups that have been established between Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital and Chinese and Italian organisations as a key step towards improving health services through skills and technology transfer.

The partnerships have enabled Chinhoyi to upgrade its systems with modern equipment such as Computerised Tomography (CT) scans, cardiology services, including a Renal Dialysis Unit. The Renal Dialysis Unit is expected to be functional later this month as technicians are in the final stages of installing the plant and equipment provided under the Zimbabwe-China project.

Speaking during a familiarisation tour of the hospital on Wednesday, Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Webster Shamu said health institutions should move away from donor dependency.

“I am pleased that Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital is already collaborating with an Italian organisation. What we need to do is to collaborate with the developed world for skills transfer. Skills development should be relatively easy because the high literacy rate in the country is already a solid foundation. We should move away from donor dependency syndrome and seek skills transfer instead.”

Minister Shamu said Italy has a developed health delivery system and highly skilled medical personnel which Zimbabwe can tap into. This comes as Italy has warmed up to Zimbabwe’s re-engagement efforts and economic development policy interventions. The European country recently extended an intervention to local companies and various interest groups to that country to explore areas of further cooperation.

Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital entered into a partnership with Lifeline Dolomite of Italy in 2013, which has seen the hospital offering cervical cancer screening, cardiology services and laparoscopic surgery.

The Italian organisation also donated a 500 kV back-up generator for critical departments such as radiology, laboratory, operating theatres, cardiology, Intensive Care Unit and renal units.

Minister Shamu urged hospital authorities to find innovative ways and incentives to attract medical specialists such as surgeons, physicians and radiologists, among others. The hospital administration, he said, should find ways of reducing the waiting period before a patient is served.