Farai Dziva|The death rate at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital has increased due to incessant power cuts and a critical shortage of staff.

This was revealed by the hospital’s medical superintendent, Collet Mawire, in his 2019 half-year overview report.

“Power cuts are causing increased risk to lives of such patients and sometimes even loss of life.
Chinhoyi provincial hospital has 422 beds and relies on two standby generators. However, the generators often break down and require 300 litres of diesel daily to run them.”

Mawire also revealed that the hospital is understaffed, having 79 nurses out of an ideal complement of 350, while there are five specialist doctors out of a possible 10, according to NewsdayNewsDay.