Zimpapers Logo

George Maponga in Masvingo

Over 100 student nurses at Masvingo Provincial Hospital nurse training school were recently ordered to vacate halls of residence at the institution after the facilities were condemned as unfit and unsafe for human habitation.

The development saw scores of trainee nurses drawn from various
classes having to source alternative accommodation outside the nurse training school precincts.

At least 120 student nurses were affected by the development and are now having to commute to the hospital to attend classes at arguably the province’s biggest nurse training facility.

Some of the students who spoke to The Herald anonymously citing
protocol said it is now more than two months since all student nurses were ordered out of the halls of residence at the province’s health referral institution.

They confirmed commuting to and from the training school daily after the halls of residence were closed.

Masvingo provincial medical director Dr Amadeous Shamu confirmed the development but refused to shed more light saying he was not allowed to speak to the press.

”The reasons for the closure are not what you heard but I cannot say anything more because I am not allowed to speak to the press,” said Dr Shamu.

Other hospital authorities who also refused to be named said the closure of the nurse training school halls of residence was a macrocosm of a faulty plumbing system that is affecting the entire institution.

”The whole hospital, including the provincial nurse training school, relies on a plumbing system that is outdated and in urgent need of overhaul. Major repair works are needed for the plumbing system to function normally again. We had to close halls of residence at the nurse training schools because the state of the plumbing system no longer made it possible for people to stay inside,” said a senior hospital official who refused to be named.

The near collapse of the institution’s plumbing system comes amid plans by Government to build a new provincial health referral institution on land set aside by Masvingo City council near the Masvingo-Beitbridge Hhighway.

Authorities feel the current provincial hospital should be relegated to a district hospital and must be replaced by a new modern health facility boasting modern equipment and with a bigger capacity to cater for the growing population in Masvingo province.