THE government is renovating Norton Hospital after taking over the health institution from the local authority more than six months ago.
The hospital is being run under the Health and Child Care ministry.
The renovations began with the revamp of the hospital’s theatre, which had been dormant since 1999.
Speaking to NewsDay, hospital superintendent Simbarashe Matanyaire said the development was welcome as patients were struggling to access treatment.
“Currently, the major project that we are working on is renovating our theatre, which has not been functional for more than 10 years now. We are renovating the theatre with a view to make it functional,” he said.
“Right now, we are mainly targeting Caesarean sections as the major operation that we will be conducting in the theatre. We will also be conducting minor operations and surgeries there.”
Matanyaire said the theatre needed structural adjustments which were being done, “where we are working with the Ministry of Local Government”.
“They are doing construction and there’s going to be carpentry work when fixing the ceiling, then there is also going to be power back-up installation for the theatre,” he said.
Matanyaire said new equipment for the theatre received from government would be commissioned soon after the completion of renovations.
He said currently they were referring patients in need of theatre services to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital (formerly Harare Central Hospital).
“Off head, I can say we refer maybe 30 to 40 patients per month for caesarean section,” Matanyaire said.
“We currently refer to Sally Mugabe Central Hospital. When our theatre is functional, we will be looking at operating on all those women and conducting the C-sections here at Norton Hospital.”
He said the hospital would complement government efforts through procuring consumables for the hospital using the Health Services Fund (HSF).
“We have also been procuring machinery, medication and other equipment for the hospital and we are doing this through HSF, which is the money that is being paid by the patients, so these are internal funds which we are using to do all these projects,” he said.
Since President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s impromptu visits to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and Sally Mugabe Central Hospital, the government has been on a drive to ensure that health institutions match current standards of health service delivery, hence the renovations.
