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Sukoluhle Ndlovu Midlands Correspondent
Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Owen Ncube on Tuesday commissioned Mtapa Maternity Clinic in Gweru’s Mtapa high density suburb.

The opening of the clinic comes as a huge relief to pregnant women from Gweru’s oldest high density suburb who were being forced to travel 10 kilometres to Gweru Provincial Hospital to deliver.

Mtapa Clinic, which was closed in 2013 after failing to meet expected health standards, serves more than 26 000 people from Shamrock, Ascot, Mambo, Woodlands, Montrose, Clifton Park and Mtapa suburbs.

Addressing Gweru residents, Minister Ncube said health services were of paramount importance and among Government’s key priority areas.

Minister Ncube said Government remained committed in reducing maternal deaths and infant mortality rate by increasing access to health services to expecting mothers and infants.

“In response to the needs of HIV/AIDS pandemic, existing structures were portioned to ensure a child friendly facility that also caters for both adolescents and adults in the provisions of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), HIV testing services (HS) and OI ART services,” he said.

“Zimbabwe records between 500 000 and 700 000 pregnancies per year. In 2016, the Government recorded that 514 women had died while giving birth, this was a reduction from 656 maternal deaths in 2014 and 575 in 2015.

“Although pregnancy is not a disease, it is associated with risks before, during and immediately after birth, which if not taken care of can result in maternal death.

“Despite the decrease in maternal mortality, Zimbabwe still remains one of the countries with the highest incidences. This has been attributed to delays in seeking health care, in reaching health facility and in receiving expeditious and effective care at health facility.”

Minister Ncube said Government had already started offering free health services to expecting mothers, children under the age of five and the elderly in an endeavour to improve health service delivery.

“It is Government policy not to charge user fees for maternity fees as we develop strategies to win the war of maternal deaths by advocating for safe motherhood,” he said.

“Some of the reasons that led to high mortality among pregnant women according to the World Health Organisation included religious and traditional objectors to modern medicine, for instance refusal to seek medical care at the health facility, refusal of blood transfusion, refusal of modern medication or surgical procedures and use of traditional medicines to quicken labour.

Minister Ncube said it was important that the City of Gweru, through its health services department, had complied with the Government’s directive by exempting pregnant women from paying maternity fees.

“As for the under-five and above 65 years, the facility needs implementation and monitoring to ensure that the fore mentioned people do not pay medical fees,” he said.

Meanwhile, council has allayed fears of an outbreak of diarrhoeal diseases and says it is on high alert to deal with any potential water borne diseases that may erupt in this rainy season.

Speaking on the sidelines of commissioning of Mtapa Maternal Clinic yesterday, Gweru City Council acting town clerk, Mr Douglas Chikwekwe said the city council have deployed health teams to respond to potential cholera and typhoid outbreaks.

“As for diarrhoeal diseases, we have not had any cholera or typhoid cases to date. We have deployed our health teams to respond to the threats of cholera and typhoid by giving health education to the residents on personal hygiene, food hygiene, environmental hygiene as well as proper water storage techniques,” he said.

Mr Chikwekwe said Gweru was not affected by the recent cholera cases that were reported in some parts of the country.

“The city council is highly prepared and we have a low disease burden and case fatalities as evidenced during the 2008-2009 cholera outbreak where Gweru city recorded a one percent fatality.”

He said during the 2016-2017 suspected typhoid outbreak, there were no confirmed cases in Gweru as compared to other towns.

He said continued health education and promotion has been developed and resulted in improved healthcare for the residence.