The new Bopoma Clinic in the Rushinga District of the Mashonaland Central Province has come as a god-send. It was started through contributions by the local community and devolution funds came to complete it. It opened its doors to patients on 23 January 2023. Since then it has been a happy story for the locals. But some problems still remain. They need a fridge to store medicines. Electricity is on and off. Water is acute, and there are no maternity facilities. Brick by Brick visited the clinic on 25 April 2023, and below are the views gathered from the local people.
Judith Jongwe
Acting nurse-in-charge
This clinic was opened on 23 January this year. Previously this building was not a clinic, it was used by World Vision, the international NGO. When they completed their projects, they moved to another area and handed over this building to the Rushinga Rural District Council (RDC). The Council then decided to use this building as a clinic.
This clinic has helped people a lot because before it came, people used to travel long distances to the Mary Mount Mission Hospital where they used to pay a lot of money. But here, at the Council clinic, they are being treated for free. They only pay US$1 as admission fee.
On the average, we are seeing about 250 to 270 patients per month. That are outpatient cases only. For maternal, we are not doing anything because our set-up is not conducive for deliveries.
We offer immunisation for under-5s, Covid vaccination for adults, anti-natal and outpatient services, NCI treatment of under-5s, HIV testing, and family planning.
At the moment we have two nurses, two FO (Field Orderlies), one nurse aid, and one general hand.
Mainly we treat malaria, diarrheoa, malnutrition, and skin conditions (which come from bathing with contaminated water from the rivers).
Forgiveness Joskie
Field Orderly
I give health education to the patients and even to the community. I give health education every time at the clinic and also outside, like three times a week according to the plan.
Patients are always asking: “How can we use mosquito nets relating to malaria cases? How can we prevent diarrhea?” Those are the questions they always ask and I always teach them.
This clinic has helped the community a lot since it started operating. At moment, we are short of medicines, that’s our problem. We get our medicines from the district hospital.
The other challenge is that we don’t do deliveries because we don’t have delivery bags, even the dressing bags we don’t have. And also sterilising units, we need to sterilise on daily basis, but we don’t have them. We also need green towels, so that after sterilising the equipment, we rap them in.
Also we have printing challenges, we don’t have a printer or laptop at the clinic.
Locadia Majoni
Treasurer
People had been suffering, they were desiring a clinic which we now have. Because of the cost and how people were handled at the Mary Mount Mission Hospital, we started contributing money, about US$4,000 in total. We collected $5 per person, which amounted to US$3,800 from the villagers.
People were very cooperative. They really wanted the project to take off. Within a short time, we had collected a lot of money. We felt that we could not keep such money at home and gave it to the Council to keep it for us.
We started buying beds and other things, and we were helped with the rest by the Council. We continued lobbying for support and used the money to build toilets, and bought bricks and other things.
What gives us greater joy is that we managed to save lives. A lot of children were dying from malaria at home before this clinic came. It is so hot here, and mosquitoes are plenty here. The sad thing is that we don’t easily get mosquito nets.
In the past, we would delay taking the sick to the mission hospital, but now the clinic is close. We actually feared going to the mission hospital because we didn’t have the money to pay for the services offered there. Now the only problem we have is medicine, which is in short supply.
Colleta Augosto
Chairperson
This clinic has impacted lives in the community. At the mission hospital, we used to pay more money but now we are very happy to have treatment for free.
In my role as chairperson, I ask the nurses what they are lacking and what problems they have. We then compile the problems and forward them to the higher authorities – problems such as the shortage of medicines, the lack of maternity wards, and we don’t also have a laptop and printer here at the clinic. It makes written communication difficult.
Now, because we don’t have maternity facilities here, pregnant women are still going to the mission hospital where treatment is expensive.
We also have water problems. Yes, DDF gives us water, but they are now rationing it. But because we are dealing with health issues, we need more water.
Nelson Chasafari
Vice Chairman
People come to this clinic from Munyanya, Nyanhewe, Machirindi, and all of them get helped from here. Looking at the living conditions around us, this clinic has really helped us. Most people who could not afford the fees of the mission hospital are now being helped from here. The admission fee here of US$1 is affordable by nearly everyone in the community.
So we need adequate facilities to sustain the great need of health around us, especially maternity wards. We had no access to condoms to protect ourselves. The mission hospital did not see it as a priority, but now we have them here at the clinic as part of the family planning services.
We also need more toilet facilities. Sometimes people come in great numbers and we fail to service them quickly. So that’s another important area we need help.
Muzondiwa Kanyama
Standing in for Councillor Kamukogode.
I am so happy. We suffered a lot in the past because of the high charges at the Mary Mount Mission Hospital. Since this clinic opened, people from surrounding areas are coming here for treatment, but our biggest challenge is water.
DDF is rationing water for the school, clinics and themselves. But as a clinic, we need much water as the patients come here for treatment. In addition, our toilets are few and also the houses for nurses are few. A mothers’ shelter is our main focus now.
We have already informed the authorities about our needs, and we are awaiting their favorable response while doing what we can.
Devolution funds have already helped by giving us 70 bags of cement, which we used for waste management and the toilets. The funds were used for many things in the clinic, including beds. We also used it for painting.
We are so happy to do what we did before. We started this clinic project and the Council later came to support it. So we hope it will be done the same way.
George Kamhekete
Committe member
A lot has been said already, so I am only adding what was not said. We have already planned with the Council to mobilise more money to build a mothers’ shelter. We are going back again to the community mobilising $5 per family. We have already given each other deadlines. By the end of May 2023, we should have collected the money.
We are also asking every village to mould 3,000 bricks towards this good cause. We have 37 villages.
To be honest, like what others have said, we have been struggling. We have money like once in a year, like this time of the year. For the rest of the year, money is not easy to come by, but when we go to the Mary Mount Hospital, they don’t tolerate explanations, all they want is payment. So we are running around to make sure that our projects and clinic may run well.
CAPTIONS
Pic 1:
Judith Jongwe, Acting nurse-in-charge, speaks: “This clinic has helped people a lot because before it came, people used to travel long distances to the Mary Mount Mission Hospital where they used to pay a lot of money”
Pic 2
Forgiveness Joskie, Field Orderly: “We don’t do deliveries because we don’t have delivery bags, even the dressing bags we don’t have”
Pic 3:
Locadia Majoni: “What gives us greater joy is that we managed to save lives. A lot of children were dying from malaria at home before this clinic came”
Pic 4
Colleta Augosto, Chairperson: “At the mission hospital, we used to pay more money but now we are very happy to have treatment for free at this clinic”
Pic 5:
Nelson Chasafari, Vice Chairman: “Most people who could not afford the fees of the mission hospital are now being helped from here. The admission fee here of US$1 is affordable by nearly everyone in the community”
Pic 6:
Muzondiwa Kanyama: “We have already informed the authorities about our needs, and we are awaiting their favorable response while doing what we can”
Pic 7:
George Kamhekete, Committee member: “We have already planned with the Council to mobilise more money to build a mothers’ shelter. We are going back again to the community mobilising $5 per family”
