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Midlands Correspondent
Gokwe South has embarked on the construction of additional clinics to enhance health delivery. The district has 19 functional clinics servicing 33 wards. Gokwe South RDC chief executive officer Mr Silas Velani said they provided about $300 000 for the project.

He said they will continue selling the idea to stakeholders during budget consultation meetings that the rural authority has rolled out.

“In consultation with our stakeholders during budget consultations, we will continue lobbying for more funding so that we complete the project,” said Mr Velani.

“We are targeting to have a clinic in each ward as we seek to improve health care and service delivery in the district. So far we have only 19 clinics that are servicing patients from all the 33 wards and that is not workable at all.”

Mr Velani said construction of the clinics was at different levels, adding that they were targeting to complete the job before the rainy season. “We have about 10 clinics so far that are at different stages of construction,” she said.

“Some are almost complete and need just a few touch-ups, while some are still at early stages, so it differs. But ultimately, we are targeting to have a clinic in each ward meaning if these are completed, then we embark on the second phase where we will finish off the construction.”

Mr Velani said the move was in line with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s call to upgrade infrastructure as well as prioritise health.

“In his acceptance speech, President Mnangagwa emphasised the need for local authorities to play a key role in upgrading infrastructure while prioritising the improvement of health delivery system,” he said.

“So we stand guided by his call to improve health delivery for our people.”

Mr Velani said the rural authority was likely to adopt a stagnant budget for 2019 with little to no changes expected.

“We are now at consultation stage, but we are likely to maintain the $2 million budget for last year which we will revisit and see if there are any changes required,” he said.