State Media

Zimbabwe’s health delivery system is being reformed and restructured, new Health and Child Care Minister Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said yesterday, promising a new era in healthcare.

The Vice President was recently mandated by President Mnangagwa the additional task of taking charge of the Health Ministry, currently under the spotlight because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking for the first time following his appointment to head the ministry, Vice President Chiwenga, who was speaking at Hippo Valley estates during a tour of winter maize being grown on newly cleared and irrigated land, said a new era had dawned.

“Things will never be the same again. We are restructuring and reforming our health delivery system. We want to rebuild the structures from village to referral level. Things will never be the same again, but we must work together.”

The clean-up of the country’s health sector was being done together with the Health Services Board and other ministries such as Finance and Economic Development.

“We have already identified the problems and we do not want a repeat of what was happening before,” he said.

Turning to Covid-19 cases that continue to rise in the country, he urged Zimbabweans to adhere to what health experts say and was concerned that infections continued to spike in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare, the country’s biggest cities.

“I am the Minister of Health (and Child Care) and we are faced with a pandemic. We are getting daily updates on Covid-19 and Mr Covid-19 kills. The current state of affairs should not remain like this.”

Community and political leaders, including Parliamentarians, had to take the lead in the fight against Covid-19 in their areas if the battle against it was to be won.

President Mnangagwa appointed Vice President Chiwenga as new Health Minister after firing Dr Obadiah Moyo after he was arrested on allegations of involvement in a dubious procurement deal now cancelled.