A clinic built under the Constituency Development Fund in Chipinge East (Manicaland Province) was handed over to the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (UCCZ) recently.

Speaking at the handover ceremony at Muswera Community Centre the MP for the area, Matewu Mathias Mlambo, said the community had agreed to hand over the clinic to the church, which also runs Mount Selinda and Chikore hospitals. “We have confidence in the church. So we saw it wise to let the church run the clinic on our behalf,” he said.

Mlambo said the new clinic would serve thousands of villagers who were walking up to 20 kilometres to Nyazvindete to access medical facilities.

President of the UCCZ, Reverend Edward Matuvhunye, said that the church would ensure that quality health services are delivered to the community, which is mostly affected by diseases such as malaria. “A number of people from this area have been dying from preventable and treatable diseases such as malaria. Through this clinic, we want to assure them that they will get the assistance they need.” 

Matuvhunye said his church had served Chipinge district for more than a century and was happy with the level of confidence shown by the local community. 

The clinic was officially opened by Health and Child Welfare Minister, Henry Madzorera, last year. Before this moment, it was run by the local community. Patients were paying USD 5 to access services, an amount which contributed towards the salaries of the health staff and other employees.

Matuvhunye said the church had since applied to the Ministry of Health to have the clinic registered with it, which would enable staff members to be paid by the government.

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