KWEKWE - A non governmental organisation, Help Germany has pledged to install solar panels at 18 clinics that fall under the Zibagwe Rural District Council in Kwekwe. The local authoritys chief executive officer, Colleen Moyo last week said the organisation had already started installing the solar panels at some of the health institutions.
He said the main objective of the programme was to ease the water problems at the clinics and hospitals in the district, which has been a major challenge for the past few months.
Water, especially at our clinics, has been a major challenge for us in the last few months but we have sourced funding and Help Germany is drilling solar powered boreholes at all the 18 clinics in the district. The first two are already in place at Mpinda clinic at Silobela and at Mutimutema in Zhombe. They are working on the third one and though they initially intended to do the clinics at Silobela alone we have asked them to install the solar panels at the clinics in Zhombe also, said Moyo.
He said Help Germany had also pledged to help resuscitate over 200 boreholes in the district.
There are 200 boreholes in a state of disrepair in the district and the organisation has pledged to resuscitate all of them. Thousands of villagers are set to benefit from this initiative as the water situation has reached undesirable levels, said Moyo.
Besides drilling the boreholes and installing the solar power for powering of the boreholes and for lightning, the organisation would also install 2 500 litre water storage tanks at each clinic.
The major challenge that was being faced by rural clinics was that of communication.
Without effective ambulance services between clinics and referral hospitals there is a need for at least good communication but this is also lacking in our clinics. We have sourced assistance from organisations and Plan International has since pledged to supply radio communication to all our clinics, said Moyo.
Post published in: News