Poor health conditions drive home births in Kadoma

Munashe Mukahlera

A number of pregnant women in Zimbabwe’s Kadoma town are considering giving birth at home just to avoid the appalling state of their main delivery centre, Kadoma Council Maternity Clinic.

The clinic has no running water and sanitary conditions are poor. Kadoma Progressive Residents’ Association Spokesperson, Tafadzwa Goliati told outlined to ZTN the situation on the ground.

“The clinic needs to be refurbished. From the walls to the beds and the general state of the building everything is dilapidated. The clinic used to have state of the art equipment and theatre, but that is no longer there. Kadoma Maternity clinic is now helping people from areas like Gokwe, Sanyathi and so forth and it is important that these issues be addressed immediately,” he said.

Kadoma Mayor, Action Nyamukondiwa said the town’s population has outgrown the clinic’s capacity but the local authority is working towards better service delivery.

“The Rimuka Maternity was initially meant for Rimuka residents only but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, maintaining standards has been a challenge. Strikes at the Kadoma General Hospital have also left patients only accessing affordable services at the council clinic.

“The clinic is now overwhelmed. However, as council, we bought materials worth more than 2 million dollars to refurbish the maternity home. We have seen how overwhelmed the clinic is so we adopted a system whereby everyone who comes to the clinic, will be registered to ensure that they receive attention. The catchment area, however, remains large,” he said.