BY PATRICIA SIBANDA MATER Dei Hospital in Bulawayo has received a major boost in its fight against COVID-19 after receiving an X-Ray image printer machine from a Harare-based engineering company, Flat Bridge Medical Suppliers. The company’s bio-medical engineer Melissa Gaza said the machine was part of efforts to digitise health services. “In the COVID-19 era, patients are affected, hence it is important that an image is taken to see the effects of the pandemic on the chest,” Gaza said. The Catholic-run institution is one of the city’s four COVID-19 treatment centres. Other facilities such as Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital, Old Bartley Memorial Block within the United Bulawayo Hospitals and Ekusileni Medical Centre are government-run. Ekusileni is not yet operational. Flat Bridge business development manager Oscar Msowa said the donation was part of the company’s efforts to digitise healthcare services in Zimbabwe. “The X-ray printer we are donating is digital and you can actually upload pictures to your phone and if you are connected to the internet, you can send it to another doctor,” Msowa said. “Therefore, this is the drive that we are trying to push here, to digitise every hospital in Zimbabwe so that we become paperless.” Mater Dei Hospital advisory board chairperson Francis Chiwora said: “The donation will go a long way in making X-ray images for our COVID-19 patients and others with other medical conditions.”
