Four more ambulances were donated by the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe yesterday and handed over to President Mnangagwa, to be deployed to the areas with the most need.
Speaking after receiving the ambulances, the President commended the insurance sector for heeding the call to play a part in the achievement of targets spelt out in Vision 2030.
“I was happily surprised by this donation from the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe when I heard that they wanted to donate four ambulances to the President for deployment to communities that need them. I have informed the leadership that I am truly grateful and I will make sure that I deploy these to the most needy communities,” he said.
Government this year embarked on an initiative to buy 100 ambulances to cater for centres that are in dire need. This budgeted programme will be expanded by donations and other help from everyone else including development partners.
According to Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, 32 of these were delivered and distributed across the country this year while the outstanding ambulances would be procured in 2023. The programme is being complemented by additional ambulances being funded by development partners.
Government also plans to also have 26 highway ambulances placed at tollgates across the country.
The intervention by the insurance sector helps address the gap that still exists in terms of providing ambulances in health centres.
Insurance Council of Zimbabwe (ICZ) chairman Mr Patrick Kusikwenyu said they had responded to a call made by Government for the sector to contribute to the procurement of ambulances.
“As an industry we decided to move very quickly and looking at the problems that we are facing along our roads in terms of accidents, we came up with these four ambulances that we have donated to the President,” he said.
The ambulances were bought in South Africa at a cost of R5 million.
In addition to the ambulances, ICZ has also invested US$50 000 towards the rehabilitation of the Ruwa hospital hydrotherapy pool.
A hydrotherapy pool is used for therapy that targets and treats a wide range of ailments and can be used as part of a pain treatment or injury recovery program.
Mr Kusikwenyu said the pool would come in handy for the treatment of people involved in accidents and others.
“We are also working on restoring ambulances that are not working. So far we have identified 19, which will cost us about US$150 000 to fix so very soon we will embark on that initiative to make sure that they are available to assist the needy,” he said. – The Herald
