Gwanda Municipality ill-equipped for Covid-19

Gwanda (New Ziana)-Health facilities in Gwanda , a town run by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change are ill-equipped to handle coronavirus cases in the event of a outbreak, a medical officer has said.

Briefing Gwanda urban councillors and council management during a Covid-19 taskforce meeting, Vumani Ngulube from the District Medical Office said medical supplies at hand were inadequate.

“We have formed a taskforce in preparation for the Covid 19 outbreak. The team is doing some awareness campaigns around the communities but our biggest challenge is that health institutions do not have adequate equipment.

“The little masks and gloves we had have been used already before receiving any case. In addition we don’t have test kits and sanitizers, just basic material,” said Ngulube who is an Environmental Health Technician.

Ngulube added that their biggest challenge was lack of resources as they are operating on a shoe string budget of RTGS $32 000.

“We were given an allocation of RTGS $32 000 which is not enough for fuel and IEC material for awareness campaigns. Therefore our appeal is for an all stakeholder approach as we try by all means to prevent this deadly epidemic.

“The basic is to encourage people to continuously wash their hands with soap on running water for 20 seconds,” appealed Ngulube.

Gwanda Mayor, Councillor Justone Mazhale said it was everyone’s responsibility to stop the spread of the pandemic.

“Now that the government has released Statutory Instrument 77 of 2020 it is now easy for us to work. In the event that we face some resistance from members of the public, the SI gives our municipality police and ZRP arresting powers and a mandatory sentence of up to 1 year imprisonment or a fine in line with level 12,” said the Mayor.

Ward 9 Councillor Thulani Moyo urged the taskforce to frequently visit hot-spots in the CBD and townships.

“This must not be a talk show but let’s work together as leaders of the people. In Gwanda town we have three hot-spots namely, Engen garage where cross border travelers embark and disembark, Coolland flea market and Bulawayo taxi rank,” said Cllr. Moyo.

Of seven cases confirmed, Zimbabwe has recorded one corona virus death so far.

New Ziana