Bulawayo officials have said that they were considering turning Ekusileni into a referral institution for infectious diseases at the backdrop of an increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases.
Ekusileni has been closed for more than 20 years and should authorities open it, would be a second referral centre in Bulawayo as the city already has Thorngrove Infectious Disease Centre.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Agnes Mahomva said that the Government was considering the proposal by Bulawayo officials. She said:
It is very good to prepare for the inevitable. City Health in Bulawayo or Harare are supposed to be innovative and come up with suggestions on what they want to do then look at it together in terms of feasibility. If they are looking at Ekusileni, we will discuss around it and find a way forward.
The call is made when last wee the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Heath which toured facilities in Bulawayo to access preparedness discovered that most hospitals were not readily equipped to deal with the coronavirus.
The Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Obadieah Moyo announced on Saturday that two cases had been confirmed as positive.
More: The Sunday Mail