Higherlife Foundation yesterday launched the ‘Support Our Hospitals’ campaign aimed at capacitating doctors working in public hospitals by mobilizing funding and material support to ensure public medical staff are well resourced to carry out their work.
The initiative, which follows the recent launch of a Z$100 million doctors’ training Fellowship by the Masiyiwa Family through Higherlife Foundation, was launched in Harare and immediately drew support from the Econet group of companies.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, Higherlife Foundation CEO Dr Kennedy Mubaiwa made an impassioned plea to corporates and the public to rise up and help support our public hospitals.
“This is an initiative to ensure that we resource our hospitals with the essential tools for the trade for doctors,” Dr Mubaiwa said, elaborating on the various items needed by doctors to do their work effectively.
“We are looking at a start-up kit for doctors that includes diagnostics sets, protective clothing, blood pressure machines, cannulas and most importantly, essential drugs and medicines critical to save lives,” said Dr Mubaiwa.
He said he believed doctors play a significant role in everyone’s live and if a hospital was doing well, so would the community around it.
At the same event, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe group CEO Dr Douglas Mboweni said Econet Wireless would immediately support the initiative with a Z$10 million commitment as well as smartphones to be used by doctors, worth and additional Z$1.5 million.
He announced that Distributed Power Africa (DPA), the Econet group renewable energy company, would offer solar energy to selected public hospitals and clinics to ensure critical medical services that need power are maintained or resuscitated.
Dr Mboweni also revealed that the group would offer data connectivity through Liquid Telecoms, while its Vaya on demand services and affiliate businesses would provide free transport for doctors and nurses, along with water deliveries to some major public hospitals that have been struggling with access to clean water.
Dr Mubaiwa called on corporates and citizens willing to financially participate in the Save Our Hospitals campaign to donate their support to the EcoCash Biller Code 78390 (routing to account number 1001838845 – Higherlife).
