Story by Mhlomuli Ncube
THE government has condemned shoddy workmanship at the ongoing construction of Bhale Rural Health centre in Hwange District, imploring the contractor to shape up.
The project, for which the government allocated US$200 000, has left both officials and the local community disappointed after inspections revealed substandard structures already showing signs of deterioration.
The two small buildings, intended to house critical health services, have begun falling apart before completion, a situation that failed to impress the Special Adviser to the President on Monitoring of Government Programmes, Dr Joram Gumbo, who toured the facility on Thursday accompanied by government officials and community members.
“They are breaking apart before we have even started using them. The window latches are also coming apart, and some of the door hinges are already coming apart. Especially for a health post building, it does not meet our minimum requirements for a medical facility,” Hwange DMO, Dr Fungai Musinami said.
“For this clinic, we are not happy. Locals should be involved in tenders for such projects. We cannot even talk about this clinic, let alone inviting dignitaries to see such shoddy work, no, we are disappointed and we think this should be destroyed and rebuilt afresh,” Traditional Leader, Chief Nekatambe added.
Dr Gumbo said, there is a need for wide consultations on the clinic.
“There is need for wide consultations on the clinic as the community is saying, the shoddy work that has been done at the clinic will, at our stage have some problems with registering the facility and the place to be approved by the health department,” he said.
The government allocated resources for the construction of the clinic in the area after realising the need for such a facility, as the community had been travelling 19 kilometres to access the nearest healthcare centre in Dinde.
