Officials in Bulawayo said they were on high alert and response teams have been put on standby since the country recorded its first case on Friday.
“The City of Bulawayo would like to encourage residents and members of the public to be vigilant in light of Covid-19. Through the health services department the emergency preparedness and response team is prepared to attend to cases that may arise. Following the pronouncement of the cases in Victoria Falls and Harare so far, the teams are on high alert,” said Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, the council spokesperson.
Officials also said they were now considering turning Ekusileni Medical Centre into another coronavirus referral centre for the region as the only infections diseases centre Thorngrove was too small in case of a massive outbreak.
The option was tabled after the Bulawayo City Council said it was ill resourced physically and resource wise to handle cases at Thorngrove Infectious Disease Hospital. Thorngrove was built in 1941 and caters for Bulawayo, Midlands and the two rural Matabeleland provinces, the North and South.
A visit to the hospital last week revealed that the hospital can accommodate 17 patients in the isolation ward which can be stretched to a maximum of 30. Church leaders last week met Minister of State of Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Cde Judith Ncube to table the idea of increasing centres that will cater for patients.
The church leaders said Ekusileni that has been closed for more than 20 years should open its doors as a second referral centre in Bulawayo. In response, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Agnes Mahomva said Government was considering the proposal.
“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,” she said.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Heath also toured facilities in Bulawayo last week to access preparedness and discovered that most hospitals were not readily equipped to deal with the coronavirus.
Sister Nomazulu Dlodlo, a staffer at Thorngrove Infectious Disease Centre said there was one patient who is under quarantine and under observation.
“We have one patient who is under isolation who came in on Monday and we do have several others who come thinking they have the virus but we have only admitted one so far,” she said without shedding more details about the patient.