According to a senior Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) official, Zimdef will fund the development of specialized teaching and research hospitals in Zimbabwe at State institutions in order to boost research on pandemics such as COVID-19. The fund now supports two research and teaching hospitals at Midlands State University (MSU) and the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), according to Zimdef chief executive Sebastian Marume.
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Advancing Research In Hospitals
The goal of this study, according to Marume, was to distinguish research and teaching hospitals from those that are more treatment-oriented. He claimed that the University of Zimbabwe now has only one (research and teaching hospital) sponsored with $200 million this year. The facility is likely to receive funds next year and will be actively exploring the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When there was an outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were so many doctors in the developed world who were involved in research of that disease. That is the direction that we need to take that whenever we have a (medical) challenge, we do research.” Marume stated.
Zimdef was also sponsoring the establishment of a pathological hospital at MSU, according to Marume. He claimed that he would be sending pathology testing to South Africa and that the findings would take one week to arrive. When the results are returned, the patient may have already died. As a result, having a pathology department at MSU would allow testing to be performed locally, reducing its time to receive findings.
While Zimdef was also funding infrastructure at universities, Marume said the most costly task was obtaining equipment because it was imported. He also claimed that the Great Zimbabwe University would develop a research and teaching hospital. Marume came to the conclusion that the country needed specialized hospitals so that people wouldn’t have to travel outside the country for treatment.
