THE Vice Chairperson of the Covid-19 Inter Ministerial Taskforce Cde Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri says refurbishment of the Intensive care unit at Masvingo general hospital must be expedited so that the province can attend to any serious covid-19 cases that may arise.
Cde Muchinguri Kashiri was in Masvingo province on Sunday to assess progress made on getting the province ready to fight the global pandemic.
While commending the province for ensuring the lockdown is adhered to, Cde Muchinguri Kashiri, who is also the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, emphasized the need for speedy refurbishment of the intensive care unit at Masvingo General Hospital.
“The province has done well in two districts that is Chiredzi and Masvingo districts in terms of preparing to take up patients that are having mild challenges. But a lot needs to be done in terms of preparing for ICU patients so that I find a really grey area,” she said.
Three million dollars was availed to the hospital by government for the work that needs to be done.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri also assessed work at Rujeko Isolation Centre which is now 95% complete and pointed out the need to procure more oxygen cylinders to add to the three available institution. Medical personnel also appealed for more personal protective equipment.
Meanwhile, the porous border posts in Chikombedzi and Mwenezi also came under the spotlight.
“We have discussed the issues of the porous border which makes you very vulnerable and you know quite a number of our citizens would avoid the border,” said the minister.
“You need a quarantine centre. I know we don’t have the capacity to patrol the border areas but I would encourage our forces to be able to employ whatever technologies to assist ourselves at this juncture.”
While resources have been trickling in, the minister said more resources are still required to fight the pandemic.
