Gokwe clinic defies water, electricity shortages

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Population Services Zimbabwe (PSZ) Gokwe clinic has been affected by a serious shortage of water and electricity as well as dwindling donor support.

Population Services Zimbabwe (PSZ) Gokwe clinic has been affected by a serious shortage of water and electricity as well as dwindling donor support.

VENERANDA LANGA

PSZ clinical services Gokwe team leader Patience Chipango told the visiting Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care that despite the challenges, the clinic still managed to treat up to 50 patients every day.

The clinic resorted to using pit latrines due to water shortages and had challenges storing vaccines due to constant power outages.

“The electricity problems have forced the clinic to collect vaccines in small doses because electricity usually goes every day around 5 pm,” Chipango said.

“Patients use pit latrines due to water problems, and although we put a water tank there is just no water coming out.”

She said the clinic treated on average 30 to 40 cases of sexually transmitted diseases every month, which translated to one or two cases per day.

“This is due to that Gokwe is a hyper active place with farming activities taking place, and this has promoted prostitution,” she said.

PSZ clinical services manager Mavis Mabedha (Harare region) said the figures were not alarming but could be a tip of the iceberg as they did not include those recorded by the government run hospital in Gokwe.

Patients interviewed by Southern Eye at the PSZ clinic said although they paid for the services they preferred to be treated at the clinic than government run hospital due to professional and swift service.

Mabedha said they had to close ayouth centre where they offered sexual reproductive health counselling due to lack of funding.

Chairperson of the committee Ruth Labode said there was need of replication of PSZ clinics in the country in order to provide patients with choices to health care.

Meanwhile, PSZ disclosed that 25% of clients visiting their family planning clinics were youth.

This was disclosed to members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care at the PSZ Gweru clinic by PSZ director grants and external relations Pester Siraha.

About 25% of the people visiting our family planning centres are the youth, and that figure includes consultations for sexually transmitted diseases, HIV counselling, post abortion services and even contraception,” Siraha said.

“As a result, PSZ has intensified its out-services programmes with colleges where we offer sexual reproductive health counselling.”

Labode, who is also a medical doctor, said youths shied away from visiting public hospitals whenever they contracted STIs for fear of meeting relatives and friends in the process.

“Whenever they have flu the youths do visit council and government clinics and hospitals, but they would not go to those clinics for STIs and post abortion treatment,” he said.

“They want an environment where their relatives are not going to know about the sexually transmitted disease.”

PSZ medical services director Edmore Munongo said their 11 clinics around the country provided services like sexual reproductive health, family planning implants and in some clinics permanent family planning like vascectomy, ultra sound scan as well as primary health care services for those clients who might need it.

“When we are short of staff we hire local doctors to come and see complicated cases.

We want to concentrate on sexual reproductive health but we have a vision to provide even more services,”he said

Munongo told the committee that students from the Midlands State University (MSU) constituted most of their youthful clientelle seeking reproductive health services.

He said PSZ had already started a relationship with MSU health staff and peer educators and had seen many students accessing services.

Munongo said they expected to train 50 peer educators to encourage students to access sexual reproductive health services to prevent STI.

Some of the institutions to benefit include Harare Polytechnic, Mutate Teachers College, MSU, National University of Science and Technology, Chinhoyi University of Technology and other colleges, where youths showed interest in the counselling services offered.

The MPs will visit more PSI clinics in Gwanda and Victoria Falls.