TELONE in partnership with mobile network operator, NetOne have combined efforts to refurbish and fully equip a ward at Sally Mugabe Hospital (formally Harare Hospital), a move that is set to improve service delivery at the health institution.
By Michael Gwarisa
Officiating at the Ward Handover Ceremony, First Lady, Mai Auxilia Mnangagwa said the gesture by the two entities was a step in the right direction for the country’s health sector which is currently in need of recapitalisation.
I am delighted to be officiating at this event today, which is a highlight of the hard work that has been put to support one of the major central hospitals in our country, Sally Mugabe Central Hospital during these trying times. The hard work I have witnessed here today is most pleasing especially as it depicts how collaborative effort can easily help us to rebuild and capacitate health facilities countrywide. On that note, let me commend the two state owned institutions TelOne and NetOne for coming up with this exemplary initiative. This is certainly the way to go if indeed we want to achieve more and get our health system back on track.
“Specifically the intervention we have witnessed here today is timely and most critical at this point for the Sally Mugabe Central Hospital which is the biggest referral hospital in the country with a bed capacity of 1186. As we all know, many of our vulnerable people are cared for at this hospital. It therefore becomes imperative that we focus on ensuring that the facility is capacitated especially as a way to create a safety net for our people,” said the First Lady.
She also expressed gratitude to the wider scope of the project which which involves refurbishment of 42 bed ward, drilling of three boreholes and mobilisation of critical hospital equipment. Sally Mugabe Central hospital has 40 wards.
“I have also been made aware of a prior donation of Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) done in May for the health workers and these donations were valued at ZWL10million. This is what happens when individuals and organisations come together with a noble intention. The results show that indeed we are stronger together. My message today is to therefore implore other corporates and donors to consider structuring their Corporate Social Responsibility deliberately targeted to improve our public hospitals as access to health is a core indicator of development in any country.
“The call is even urgent now more than ever in view of the COVID-19 global pandemic. While faced with this, we also have other diseases like cancer, malaria, HIV-AIDS which remain alive and needing management by the same hospitals. Maternal and paediatric health are also areas that remain key on our health radar. It is therefore delighting to note the ward refurbishment and borehole drilling initiatives will live beyond the challenges of the moment.”
Health and Child Care Deputy Minister, Dr John Mangwiro also expressed gratitude to the two coporates for collaborating towards realising better health outcomes for the country.
“In line with disaster-response preparedness at Hospital level, Sally Mugabe Hospital, formerly known as Harare Hospital, now has a fully functional ward that can accommodate 42 patients in the event that Covid-19 cases are exacerbated. In line with our vision which is to have the highest possible level of health and quality of life for all citizens, we hope to take this thrust on a national level to all Provincial, District, and Rural Hospitals and ensure full capacitation of our health facilities.
“In as much as we acknowledge that Covid-19, like many other natural disasters, was unforeseen and unexpected, we will use our experiences as learning points for improved Public Health Surveillance and Disaster Preparedness and Responsiveness as a key priority area. In that vein, we realise that there are several patients that are asymptomatic and may show limited to no symptoms at all and as such do not require hospitalisation. In this regard, it is therefore imperative that we identify easily accessible amenities that can be transformed into Community Isolation Centres,” said minister Mangwiro.
Meanwhile, TelOne Managing Director, Mrs Chipo Mtasa said the collaboration between TelOne and NetOne is not by coincidence as it goes beyond this current project.
“We have been working together on so many other collaborations as business partners and it is our wish that beyond today, the market views us as an extension of each other. We have a similar history, have the same shareholder and indeed share many strategic interests. In view of the event today, allow me to posit that as TelOne, our interest and work in the health sector is informed by our Corporate Social Investment Policy which has seen us doing several high impact projects over the years.
[pullquote]Some of the projects include construction of health access points, provision of hospital equipment and medicines especially at rural district levels.[/pullquote]
“When we came together with NetOne for the COVID-19 project, we built on this background and we also realised that our public institutions were in bad shape from years of neglect due to resource limitation. We also realised that to reclaim these facilities, we needed to assist each other and support Government because of the magnitude of the work at hand. We have been advised that Sally Mugabe Central hospital has 40 wards in total and we have chosen to make a difference through the refurbishment of Ward A1. Looking at how the ward has transformed, I implore all Corporates in Zimbabwe including State Owned entities to develop sustainable and impactful Corporate Social Investments programmes that improves the lives of the majority of our citizens through improved health, education and social amenities. Together we can do more as we build our country,” said Mrs Mtasa.
She added they recently launched an innovative e-learning solution (Impact Learning), which is a platform that will help with remote learning for primary, secondary and tertiary levels. This comes among a host of other product packages tailor made to support our voice and broadband users during this difficult time.
The event also saw NetOne unveiling their contribution to the Covid-19 Mitigation in partnership with Telecoms sector – TelOne. This collaboration has seen us contributing ZWL$5 million each to mobilize a combined fund of ZWL$10million to augment Government efforts in a fight that the entire world is grappling with.
Chief Executive Officer, MS Chipo Jaisson said , “This partnership resonates with NetOne’s mission to transform lives and develop communities, not only through offering seamless communication solutions, but providing support towards improving the health and wellbeing of the nation at large. I am glad to say this initiative, falls within one of our critical Corporate Social Investment pillars – One Health, which is aligned with SDG 3 – which seeks to “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all” and SDG 6– which ‘’Ensures availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”
She added that the initiative was also, “testament of our commitment towards community development as businesses. Not only are we investing in the preservation of human kind by actively joining the fight against Covid 19, but contributing towards capacitating public health facilities for the greater good of our nation. We understand that the current state of our public health care sector, impacts on their ability and level of preparedness to deal with such a pandemic, which is why we saw it fit as businesses to offer the necessary financial support to ensure that we effectively build capacity during and post Covid 19.”
