By Staff Writer
Bulawayo’s three referral hospitals, Mpilo Central Hospital, United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) and Ingutsheni Hospital, are struggling under the weight of minor ailments that should be treated at lower-level facilities, Bulawayo Provincial Medical Director (PMD), Dr Maphios Siamuchembu, has said.
Dr Siamuchembu stresses that expanding healthcare infrastructure is essential to achieving universal access to health in Bulawayo.
The PMD said the current system forces central hospitals to operate like large district hospitals, limiting their capacity to handle complex medical cases.
“Basically, the central hospitals are working like big district hospitals. At night, everybody flocks to Mpilo and UBH because all the clinics are closed,” he said.
The solution, according to Dr Siamuchembu lies in establishing more district-level and provincial health facilities.
“We think that our central hospitals – Mpilo, UBH and Ingutsheni are swamped by sicknesses and illnesses that should be managed at lower level health facilities,” he said.
“So to decongest the central hospitals, I would like to have three district level hospitals and one provincial level hospital. Yes, one provincial hospital, three district hospitals.”
Dr Siamuchembu explained that Bulawayo Metropolitan Province has three administrative districts under the Ministry of Health and Child Care, which are Emakhandeni, Nkulumane and the Northern Suburbs, with each of those needing a district hospital.
“Then I think we need a provincial hospital, where the district hospitals can be referring to, before patients are referred to the Apex hospitals, which are the central hospitals,” said the PMD.
He also stressed having additional hospitals would allow Mpilo, UBH, and Ingutsheni to focus on specialised care and complex cases.
“That would leave the central hospitals to provide just the specialised care or cater for complex management of conditions,” he said.
Dr Siamuchembu said he has engaged the Ministry of Health and Child Care, which is still assessing the proposal and trying to secure funding, adding that as a medical professional he hopes the plan comes to fruition and welcomes support from well-wishers.
“Yes I have engaged with our parent ministry and they are looking at it. They are still trying to find money for that. Yes, it’s something that they’re still assessing. This is something that I hope comes true. So if we can push well wishers, good,” he said.
Although funding remains a challenge, the PMD hoped the Ministry of Finance will allocate necessary resources for the province to achieve universal health access by 2030.
Dr Siamuchembu also said that his role as PMD involves assessing the healthcare needs of Bulawayo residents and communicating them to the government.
“I am a provincial medical director and my job is to assess the needs of the citizens or the residents of my province and tell government that for us to achieve universal access to health by 2030, this is what we need in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province.”
As for the location for the new facilities, the PMD said these were still under consideration.
“We will have to assess and decide which, what location is best. One of our dreams is to integrate mental health services with other clinical services at Ingutsheni. So Ingutsheni is a possible location for the provincial hospital. Yeah. But we’ll have to consult with all the stakeholders and agree what the best location is.”
Dr Siamuchembu said he has also engaged private partners on this initiative.
“Yes, there is a trust or an organisation that came to my office. They said they wanted to build a hospital in Nketa in memory of someone important to them. They wanted my advice and I told them, what would work is if they looked at the provincial desires and build the hospital in line with these desires,” he said.
“So they said they were going to look at it and come back to me. I’m still waiting for them to come back. It’s been maybe two months ago.“
The PMD clarified that while central hospitals are not overwhelmed, minor ailments dominate patient visits.
“I don’t have the statistics off my head as to how many patients pass through the central hospitals but understand that I did not say Mpilo or UBH overwhelmed. I said they are swamped by minor ailments,” he said
Credit-Online
