More than 60 seriously injured workers who are undergoing rehabilitation or have undergone rehabilitation were invited to a Christmas party at the Worker’s Compensation Rehabilitation Centre in Bulawayo last Friday. Own Correspondent
The rehabilitees, many of whom have lost limbs or are paralysed in varying degrees, were entertained by dance group Victory Siyanqoba, before some of them took to the dance floor themselves, regardless of their being in wheelchairs or being supported by crutches.
Not everyone danced, of course, with many preferring to enjoy themselves eating, drinking and chatting with one another.
Every year the National Social Security Authority (NSSA), which administers the Worker’s Compensation Insurance Fund, holds a Christmas party for those being rehabilitated at the centre, which provides rehabilitation services for injured workers from all over the country. Former rehabilitees are also welcome to join the party.
The centre, which is next door to Mpilo Hospital, is the only rehabilitation centre in the country specifically for those injured at work. It is well equipped, boasting what the centre manager Amon Bhebhe believes is the only working hydrotherapy pool in the country.
It can take up to 200 patients at any one time, with residential accommodation available for up to 80 patients. Most injured workers living in Bulawayo are treated at the centre on an outpatient basis, with the residential accommodation being reserved chiefly for injured workers from other parts of the country.
A multidisciplinary team at the centre provides physiotherapy, occupational therapy, medical services, social work counselling and vocational training.
The centre has a paraplegic unit, a gym, an electrotherapy wing and the hydrotherapy pool.
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Patients are provided with the prosthetics and appliances appropriate to their condition. Surgery is arranged when needed. The surgery, as well as all other services, are paid for by the Worker’s Compensation Insurance Fund.
The guest of honour at Friday’s Christmas party was NSSA benefits, schemes, planning and research director Henry Chikova, who was given a present produced by rehabilitees in the centre’s carpentry workshop.
Earlier, responding, prior to a media tour of the centre, to a journalist’s question about what challenges the centre faced, Chikova said a major difficulty was the reluctance of many employers to take back a seriously injured worker.
“The idea of the rehabilitation process is to have the worker go back to work. When we rehabilitate injured workers, we give them some level of functionality. We expect employers to take them back to their original job or to a lighter job, but most employers are not willing to take them back,” he said.
He added that in other countries the premium of employers who refused to take injured workers back was increased.
He said relatives of injured workers were also often unhelpful. Sometimes the wife of a person who was paraplegic deserted him.
Speaking at the Christmas party, Chikova suggested that there might be a need to review the vocational training courses the centre offers to include, for instance, computers.
At present training was provided in carpentry, tailoring, leather craft, welding and poultry and gardening. He said there seemed to be limited interest in these courses.
“Maybe they are outdated and we need to explore the introduction of new courses such as computers and panel beating and spray painting,” he said.
Chikova said that so far this year 685 people had passed through the centre, 476 of whom had been in-patients, spending at least one night at the centre.
