The Redcliff Town Council is seeking to raise US$300 000 to purchase a private hospital in the town to have it as one of its health facilities, according to the town`s mayor.
The hospital, Bell Medical Centre, is owned by former Zimbabwean envoy to the United Nations Arikana Chihombori.
Redcliff Mayor Clayton Masiyatsva told 98.4FM News that the local authority has raised ZW$30 million and plans to buy United States dollars on the foreign currency exchange auction to pay for the medical centre.
“We have some funds that we received through devolution intergovernmental fiscal transfers, about ZW$40m, and we have set aside $30m from it to buy US$300 000 to buy Bell Medical Centre so that we have our own hospital. We want our residents to stop going to Kwekwe General Hospital for medical attention,” Masiyatsva said.
He added that the town council had requested the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works as well as the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for assistance to be able to buy foreign currency on the auction.
Most of Redcliff`s residents travel to Kwekwe General Hospital, which is about 12 kilometres away, for health care. The town council recently closed Redcliff clinic to do some upgrades.
Masiyatsva said his council is making some light refurbishment work on the clinic and expected the exercise to be completed by the end of this month.
He said: “Residents in Redcliff can see that we closed our clinic to repair all broken items, some cracks on the walls, and also the borehole there. We expect that by the end of this month this work will be finished so that we have the clinic and Bell Medical Centre operational.”
Bell Medical Centre was recently renovated to be a COVID 19 isolation and treatment centre.