CHIWUNDURA- The 66-bed St Patrick’s Hospital which has been lying idle for the past years years
due to lack of funds, is now 90 percent complete.
The health facility, which has state-of-the-art equipment donated from Australia, is situated at St
Patrick’s Mission School – 38km from Gweru. It is set to be turned into a district hospital once
handed over to the Health and Child Care Ministry.
Despite the delay in the completion of the hospital, the church managed to receive a donation of
equipment from Holy New Life Church in Australia in 2017, which included 54 medical hospitals
Trans-X Operating Theatre tables, wheel chairs, crutches, Eultra sound machine, Respironics BP
machine, Ulco ventilator and Blackridge air compressor, among other items.
The hospital, will benefit hundreds of villagers who have been travelling long distances to seek
medical attention in Kwekwe and Gweru.
The hospital’s catchment area also include seven clinics, 14 schools, five business centres, six villages
and nearby small scale farms in both Kwekwe and Gweru.
In an interview this week, the Anglican Diocese of Central Zimbabwe Bishop Ignatius Makumbe said
they expect to finish the construction of the hospital next month.
“90 percent of the work is done on the hospital and what is basically left is to roof one ward for men
and another ward for maternity which is not going to take long.
“… so we think that before the first quarter of the year, that is by the end of March we should have
completed the building of the hospital,” he said.
Bishop Makumbe said since the hospital is not an income generating project, they will hand it over
to the Health Ministry for the benefit of community, as it will also create employment for locals.
“We look forward to the Ministry of Health and Child Care to partner us so that it becomes a district
hospital. It will need more nurses and healthcare workers and government comes in by paying the
workers.
“We are excited that Government is appreciating our project as we are helping them because it is
their responsibility to provide for health care and essential services to the nation.
“We are all going to benefit from the hospital because people will get adequate services from it.
The hospital is not an income generating business but it is for the community and it serves the
community,” said the Anglican Diocese of Central Zimbabwe Bishop.
Meanwhile, the mortuary with a holding capacity of nine bodies, is now functioning.
Bishop Makumbe said a refrigerator which carries three bodies is fully functioning while the other
two compartments are being worked on.
“The local community has been alerted that this is a mortuary for their benefit and we are very
happy about this development,” he said.
