Story by Tafara Chikumira
THE Second Republic is walking the talk in terms of universal health coverage after a clinic which will benefit at least 14 000 people was commissioned in the Gokwe-Sesame area of Midlands Province.
The clinic has brought health care services closer to the community where residents were travelling more than 20 kilometres to the nearest health facility.
Located some 18 kilometres west of Gokwe Centre is Ganye Clinic which was commissioned last year and is already proving to be a game changer in the provision of quality healthcare services for the local community.
The clinic, constructed under the devolution programme, has a catchment area of over 14 000 villagers including 80-year-old Sekuru Bangazi who suffers from a chronic condition which requires constant monitoring.
Like most of the villagers, Sekuru Bangazi now just needs to travel about four kilometres to the clinic, in sharp contrast to the 22 kilometres he used to travel for health care services.
“My condition no longer allows me to travel long distances. I just call the boys to get the scotch cart ready so that I get the attention that I need. Right now I have since been attended to by the nurses who are very friendly,” he said.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank our President for coming up with such a great idea of devolution. Right now, we have a clinic which is as good as a hospital. The workers are very professional in the conduct of their duties,” said one of the community members.
Another added, “Life is now easy in terms of accessing health care services. We used to labour going to Gokwe centre and sometimes we didn’t have enough money to travel to and from so we would suffer in silence. Sometimes we would spend the whole day waiting for services at the hospital away from home.”
Apart from decongesting Gokwe Central Hospital, Ganye Clinic has also created employment for the local community.
The government-funded devolution programme has resulted in the construction of clinics, schools and sinking of boreholes, among other projects, with a view to improving livelihoods countrywide.
