AN amount to the tune of plus or minus US$8 million is earmarked for the total refurbishment of Avenues Clinic as the institution aims to increase its ability to handle complex health situations.
By Michael Gwarisa
In an interview on the sidelines of the Health Brief at Avenues Clinic, the Clinic’s Chief Officer, Mr Searchmore Chaparadza said under the Medical Investments Limited (MIL) which is an grouping of medical facilities whose flagship is the avenues clinic, innovations are happening in all the areas.
To date, what we have done are bathrooms, we have done about 19 bathrooms, and we have done some Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) areas. Because of the improvement that we are trying to do in our standards, we have actually had to increase the number of WASH areas that we have because hand washing is very important element in a healthcare facility.
“We have done about 22 of those adjacent to those bathrooms and rest to the rooms. So now the stage that we are going to is doing the actual rooms that are outside those particular bathrooms so that when you come in it’s a holistic experience throughout. What we have now decided to do because of the currency issues, at the moment the budget for the project is pending finalisation but we are working with about US$8 million in total for the whole project,” said Mr Chaparadza.
He added that the Flagship hospital for the group, The Avenues Clinic, is one of only two fully integrated Grade A hospitals in Zimbabwe a leading player in private healthcare services in the country, with a total of 176 beds; and has the best and most equipped critical care facilities in the country.
The institution has also acquired a state of the 164 Slice CT Scanner Cardiac CT which can diagnose heart conditions-the 1st in the country and one of only 2 available locally and has high Image intensity which can view the heart 3D and from any angle.
Meanwhile, Avenues Clinic Medical Director Professor Godfrey Muguti said they have made investments on the medical side as well.
“The Avenues Clinic has 176 bed hospital offering specialist services we have a School of Nursing (OTN/ICN), Radiology Service, Accident and emergency service. MontaguClinic on the hand Caters for day care surgery while St Clements Clinic caters for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.”
The Clinic is also planning to establishment a laboratory which will do most of the basic investigations – this will cut down on transport costs for specimens and also reduce waiting times for results.
“With an onsite laboratory it will be possible to do all tests 24/7. The laboratory will be an additional revenue stream for the hospital. We also plan establishment of an endoscopy service.”
