Africa Press-Nigeria:
TelOne and NetOne have availed $10 million towards the capacitation of public health facilities in the fight against Covid-19.
Speaking during the hand-over of a refurbished ward at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo Monday, ICT Minister Jenfan Muswere implored other corporates to assist the government in mobilising resources towards the mitigation and containment of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Both entities resolved to collaborate as state-owned entities in the telecoms sector on a 50/50 joint Covid-19 mitigation corporate social investment initiative and put together a combined total of $10 million towards both the immediate needs as well as medium to long term projects that seek to capacitate our public health facilities,” he said.
“I am happy to advise that as a sector all players contributed immensely towards the setting up of the national Covid-19 response hotline 2019, through the donation of various ICT equipment and toll-free lines to facilitate the set-up of the Ministry of Health and Child Care National Emergency Call Centre Facility,” said Muswere.
The minister praised the two state-owned telecommunications companies for availing various ICT equipment needed for the dissemination of Covid-19 information to prevent the spread of the disease.
“In addition, the sector also contributed to the setting up of the 2023 Hotline to enable the Ministry of Information to effectively disseminate critical information during this Covid-19 season, this facility is also operational and working smoothly,” he said.
A fortnight ago, the two companies also renovated another wing at Sally Mugabe Hospital in Harare.
“A fortnight ago, we were at Sally Mugabe Hospital witnessing the fantastic work by NetOne and TelOne and today I am excited to be unveiling a newly refurbished 35 bed Ward B5 here at Mpilo Hospital.
“It is indeed gratifying to see the sterling efforts of these two entities in the ICT sector as well as the impactful contribution they continue to make in improving our health sector during such a challenging period for Zimbabwe and the world as a whole,” said the minister.
