Story by Chikomborero Kanyemba
ZIMBABWE’S growing specialised healthcare sector is emerging as a regional centre of hope, with patients from neighbouring countries now crossing borders to access life-changing medical treatment unavailable in their communities.
Institutions such as CURE Children’s Hospital in Bulawayo are transforming the lives of children born with complex medical conditions, while reinforcing Zimbabwe’s expanding reputation in specialised healthcare services under the Second Republic.
For years, Ana Cipo from Mozambique endured stigma, rejection and emotional trauma after giving birth to a baby girl with a cleft lip. Members of her community accused her of infidelity, while others urged her husband to abandon her.
After failing to secure medical assistance in Mozambique’s Manica Province, she travelled to Zimbabwe carrying her daughter and the hope of finding treatment.
That journey led her to CURE Children’s Hospital in Bulawayo, where her daughter underwent a free corrective operation that transformed her life.
“When we reached the clinic, I was still in doubt whether my child would be okay. The doctors said my child had low weight and could not be operated on immediately, so they gave us milk for free for three weeks. On the day of the operation, I was afraid because it took a long time, and I thought my child had died. But later, the doctor called me and said the child was crying. When I saw her after the operation, she looked so beautiful. When I returned home to Mozambique, people could not believe it was the same child,” Mother Ana Cipo said.
CURE Children’s Hospital is a specialised health institution established in 2021 under the Second Republic, through a public-private partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
Jaciara’s story is one among thousands being written at the health institution, where children living with medical conditions such as cleft lip and palate, clubfoot, burn contractures and untreated fractures, among others, are receiving specialised orthopaedic and plastic surgery.
“We do not do emergency work. We do what we call elective work for children with disabilities that can be treated by orthopaedic or plastic surgeons. These are conditions children may have lived with for a very long time or even their whole lives,” Children’s Orthopaedic Surgeon and Medical Director Dr Laurence Wicks said.
Since opening its doors in 2021, the hospital has become a regional centre of excellence, restoring confidence and dignity to children from across Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries.
“We receive patients from all over Zimbabwe, including Mutare, Chipinge, Matabeleland South and Kariba. We also have patients from Botswana and Mozambique who come here for treatment. This hospital is changing lives not only in Zimbabwe, but across the region,” Matron CURE Children’s Hospital of Zimbabwe Edith Mutsatsa said.
As Government and private sector partnerships continue strengthening specialised healthcare services, institutions such as CURE Children’s Hospital are giving thousands of children a second chance at life, one surgery at a time.
