(Last Updated on January 24, 2021 by GERALD NCUBE)
MATEBELELAND NORTH – Government has temporarily closed Lupane and Jotsholo health centres after a number of the health workers in the two centres tested positive for Covid-19.
Lupane District Medical Officer Dr George Mutizira said the two centres will be closed for 14 days with effect from 22 January 2021.
“With reference to the above stated, it is with regret to inform you that the two above mentioned health facilities would be temporarily closed for the period of 14 days from the 22nd of January 2021 due to the following reasons.
“Ten members of staff tested positive to Covid-19 (at Lupane Rural Health Centre) and some are not feeling well with mild to moderate illness. All staff members are isolated and quarantined. We do not have any more staff to serve the clinic for the specified period,” read part of the letter.
Dr Mutizira said one staff member at Jotsholo Rural Health Centre had contracted the virus but had been in contact with other staff members hence they were now in quarantine.
Frontline health workers have continued to plead with the authorities to provide with adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to allow them to effectively carry out their duties.
Earlier this year, some nurses at Sally Mugabe Hospital in Harare downed tools demanding the provision of PPEs after one of them succumbed to Covid-19.
On Saturday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the country was working on acquiring vaccines, adding that frontline workers were going to be the first to be vaccinated.