PARIRENYATWA Hospital, the largest referral centre in Zimbabwe, has approved a plan to partition one of its wings into a COVID-19 treatment facility after the government was informed that equipping Wilkins Hospital only in Harare for coronavirus patients was inadequate.
Zimbabwe now has 14 confirmed COVID-19 cases including three deaths.
During a tour of the hospital Sunday, Health Minister, Obadiah Moyo said it was encouraging that the medical facility already had some of the equipment and machinery needed for COVID-19 treatment.
“The hospital is currently in the process of converting part of the hospital into a COVID-19 treatment facility,” confirmed Moyo after the tour of the hospital.
He assured Zimbabweans that coronavirus cases would be handled well at the referral hospital as extreme caution would be exercised and the COVID-19 unit shall not interfere with the operations of other health facilities at Parirenyatwa.
The giant facility has a maternity unit, out-patients wing, private wards, general public wards, eye centre, a school of nursing and staff residences, among other services.
“There will be no crossing of infections into the hospital as patients will be isolated and this will go a long way in improving service delivery,” he said.
The development to set-up a COVID-19 medical facility at Parirenyatwa Hospital, comes at a time the government is facing fierce criticism over perceived reluctance to provide financial resources for building infrastructure for managing and treatment of patients including carrying out mass public tests.
However, Moyo could not give a date as to when work on renovating the COVID-19 medical centre could start, only claiming it would start soon.
