Mat North loses US$40k in potential gas deal

MATABELELAND North lost an opportunity to get US$40 000 after failing to submit quotations on time for the procurement of medical gas and negative pressure equipment at a time when the province has only one intensive care unit (ICU) to cater for nearly 900 000 residents.

The province was supposed to submit its bill of quantities to Treasury in January but failed to do so as the Department of Public Works had not finalised the list.

This saw Treasury releasing the funds to another province whose quotation was ready.

This emerged yesterday during a Matabeleland North Provincial Covid-19 taskforce meeting chaired by Primary and Secondary Education

Minister Cain Mathema at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex in Bulawayo.

Matabeleland North Acting Provincial Medical Director Dr Munekayi Padingani said the province would have benefitted from the oxygen facility which was going to be installed at St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane, and another in Victoria Falls.

“We were supposed to get US$20 000 for Victoria Falls Hospital and another US$20 000 for St Luke’s Hospital in Lupane for the installation of an oxygen facility. The Department of Public Works was supposed to submit quotations for the materials to Treasury but it delayed doing so. So, we lost that facility to a province which was ready. Now we are back in the queue. We don’t know when we will get another allocation,” said Dr Padingani.

He said the oxygen facility was going to see the province having improved ICU facilities.

“We always needed ICU facilities in the province. At the moment we have one facility in Victoria Falls and an ICU nurse there. We don’t have an anaesthetic doctor, we don’t have an anaesthetic doctor because we don’t have a provincial hospital yet, as a province. So, the medical gas and negative pressure was going to be critical for us in the management of severe Covid-19 cases who need to be admitted in the ICU,” he said.

“While Covid-19 has made the need for ICU facilities more pronounced, we have always desired such facilities. There are so many accidents happening along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road where patients would be needing such treatment.”

Dr Padingani said they have engaged the Provincial Development Coordinator’s office to address similar challenges.

The Provincial Public Works head Mr Simbarashe Bushe blamed lack of coordination for the delays.

He said there is also a lack of experts in the medical gas and negative pressure field countrywide.

Minister Mathema chided the provincial team for not working in unison.

“We need to change the silo mentality as leaders. This is exactly what happens when people fail to coordinate in making decisions. We expect that you work together in development projects, not what we are seeing here. What is ideal is that all the district hospitals should have ICU facilities,” said Minister Mathema. —chronicle.cl.zw