THE outsourcing of key services in the Ministry of Health and Child Care is set to be localised as the ministry streamlines its operations to reduce operational costs.
Addressing stakeholders at Ingutsheni Hospital during his tour of health care facilities in Bulawayo, vice president Retired General Dr Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga said the ministry is reintroducing ambulance services while the mechanical workshop for repairs and services for the Bulawayo fleet will be done at Ingutsheni.
He revealed that the 90-hectare plot at Ingutsheni hospital will be used to produce food requirements for the three main hospitals in the city namely Mpilo, United Bulawayo Hospitals and Ingutsheni.
Vice President Chiwenga added that horticulture experts from the Agriculture ministry are set to be seconded to the facility to ensure high productivity that will reduce the burden from the treasury of feeding patients and staff.
A security department will also be established to provide security services to all health institutions, a move set to eliminate the expense of hiring security companies which has been draining resources in health institutions.
Further, the government has committed resources to the construction of staff houses in all hospitals to ensure that health workers are well-accommodated as part of improved conditions of service.
“We are working out strategies to deal with the food needs of hospitals and to this end, Ingutsheni hospital which has over 90 hectares of land will be the centre for food production for all Bulawayo hospital. We are also reestablishing the ambulance services for both road and air services so that we stop outsourcing these services and again we are building houses for our health care workers and these projects will start soon,” he said.
Vice President Chiwenga also revealed that they are working on upgrading rural health centres to decongest central hospitals.
“We also want to upgrade and improve service delivery in rural health care centres so that there is less pressure for our big hospitals and this is in line with our vision of making sure that rural communities don’t travel long distances to access health care,” he said.
The Vice President thanked health care workers for their dedication to duty, adding that in central hospitals such as Mpilo, there is urgent need to review staffing levels from the current 973 nurses to almost double the number as well as increasing the number of doctors to 400.
