Zimbabwe in Another Deal With China to Revamp Dilapidated Parirenyatwa Hospital

By Thandiwe Garusa

ZIMBABWE has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China aimed at strengthening cooperation in health, specifically in respiratory and critical care medicine.

The MoU establishes a partnership between Zimbabwe's ailing Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and China's Hunan Provincial People's Hospital.

This comes barely a week after Zimbabwe signed another MoU with Belarus to refurbish Parirenyatwa, which has been failing to cater for its patients owing to a shortage of basic medical supplies.

In return, Belarus gets an opportunity to extract vast mineral reserves in Zimbabwe.

Addressing the media during a post-cabinet briefing, Information Minister Jenfan Muswere said the agreement seeks to boost Zimbabwe's capacity in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19 and enhance critical care services.

"Under the Legislative Programme, cabinet considered and approved the Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Zimbabwe and the People's Republic of China on the Paired Hospital Cooperation Mechanism.

"The Memorandum of Understanding seeks to promote cooperation in the fields of health.

"More specifically, the MoU will establish a cooperative relationship between the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and the Human Provincial People's Hospital of the People's Republic of China in the field of respiratory and critical care medicine.

"The objective is to strengthen construction of respiratory and critical care medicine facilities in Zimbabwe and improve local capacity on prevention, control, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 as well as airway management and respiratory support for critical patients," Muswere said.

Most general hospitals in Zimbabwe are failing to meet the needs of patients, as they lack basic medical supplies, forcing patients to purchase their own.

In addition to this, the hospitals suffer from dilapidated infrastructure, while their workers receive poor remuneration, which has led to a massive brain drain and low staff morale.

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