Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
In a major milestone for Zimbabwe’s healthcare sector, government this year commissioned several modern warehouses countrywide, significantly enhancing the storage and distribution of medical supplies.
The NatPharm Masvingo medical warehouse, valued at over US$3.6 million, is one such facility that was commissioned in September this year.
The warehouse brings to 94 pharmaceutical warehouses completed by government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the past two years.
According to NatPharm Masvingo branch manager Linda Chamboko, the new warehouse has greatly improved the distribution of medical commodities to health facilities, serving close to 250 health institutions in the province.
“We have benefited a lot from this project which has enabled us to increase the storage capacity of our commodities. Previously we used to have a small warehouse that was not palettised and we struggled with space and we also struggled with electricity challenges, but now we have a state of the art warehouse where we can store more commodities for Masvingo province and also where we are able to control the temperatures that are in the warehouse so that our commodities are kept correctly. We also now have a cold-room powered by the solar system that is able to keep commodities that require temperatures between 2 to 8 degreed Celsius.
“So we have benefitted from the warehouse that was constructed and the solar project that was also handed over to us. The input from the development partners and the ministry of health has helped us to actually reach facilities that are at the last mile to give them commodities that they require when they require them just in time. We now dong have to wait for Harare to do deliveries from Harare which takes a long time so we are now doing deliveries from here and the commodities that we store here are from the different development partners that we have. So we now have increased our supply of commodities to the province,” she said.
The new warehouse features a cold room powered by a solar system, enabling NatPharm to store commodities that require temperatures between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, thereby expanding the range of medical commodities that can be stored and distributed from the warehouse.
The upgraded warehouses, part of a larger initiative by the government to decentralise key health infrastructure and ensure universal access to healthcare for all, are already having a significant impact on the healthcare delivery system countrywide, ensuring medical commodities are available and accessible to those who need them, particularly in remote and hard-to-reach areas.
Since 2014, this initiative has been underway, with notable progress made in strengthening the country’s healthcare infrastructure.
