Kadoma General Hospital

Despite the guidelines for managing sexual assault being in place, victims of sexual assault attended to at Kadoma General Hospital consistently raised complaints related to the quality of care offered. Medicolegal data for sexual assault has been collected at the hospital since 2012. However, no analysis had been done regardless of complaints having been raised.

Results
We analysed 474 medical affidavits completed between January 2014 and July 2016. Thirty percent of the victims sought care within 72 h of the sexual assault. Baseline HIV testing was done in 23 (22%) and follow-up HIV test done in 2 (2%) of the victims. Post Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV was administered to 18 (51%), emergency contraception 9 (69%) and forensic evidence gathered in six (5%) of victims presenting within the prescribed 72 h of the sexual assault. Prophylactic antibiotics were given to 156 (33%). There were no documented counselling sessions for all victims whilst follow up care was given to 47 (10%) victims.
Conclusion
Suboptimal clinical care was given to victims of sexual assault during the period 2014-2016. These findings suggest possible delayed presentation by victims of sexual assault as well as suboptimal administration of prophylaxis by health care workers. We recommend adherence to guidelines in managing sexual assault. Further research to determine factors for delayed presentation among sexual assault victims and quality of care provided to them is recommended. We analysed the dataset to determine the quality of clinical care offered to sexual assault victims.

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The hospital has produced the Kadoma Hospital Weekly bulletin. The last one was Feb 2018.

In March 2018, Zimplats and a total of seven local enterprises were engaged on a four month project to rehabilitate Kadoma General Hospital in a bid to improve healthcare delivery at one of the major referral hospitals in the country. The work attracted an average labour force of 150 with 66% having been drawn from the surrounding community.

Kadoma General Hospital had a staff complement of 372. It has a bed capacity of 150 and an average rate of 300 patients a day. It is the second largest hospital in the Mashonaland West Province.

Water supply was a major issue at the hospital with the hospital having experienced more than a decade of erratic water supplies. Two boreholes with capacity to meet the hospital’s portable water needs were drilled and equipped. Repairs to ablutions and sewer facilities were completed with some public ablutions that had been non-functional since 2005 now commissioned for use.

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Further Reading