Everyone has a role to play in helping Zimbabwe achieve
the vision of becoming a middle income economy by 2030, Health and Child Care
Minister Obadiah Moyo said on Friday, when he toured the newly renovated Cimas
Medical Laboratory in Harare.
Speaking after touring the laboratory, which has been
re-equipped as well as refurbished, Dr Moyo said it was pleasing to see that Cimas
is continuing to invest in providing top class medical laboratory services.
“We all have a role to play in helping our nation
achieve its vision of becoming a middle income economy by 2030 and my
Ministry’s goal of transforming our health institutions into world class
facilities is definitely recorded here at Cimas MedLabs.
“We see here an example of how a private health
institution can benefit the nation at large by its commitment to excellence in
providing accurate diagnostic services that are so essential to the correct
diagnosis of all sorts of illnesses and health conditions,” he said.
Stressing the importance of medical laboratory tests
in modern medicine, he said that as medicine and technology advance it is
necessary to periodically acquire new updated equipment that produces the best
results.
He said the state-of-the-art laboratory and equipment,
as well as the high calibre of scientists and technicians, at Cimas MedLabs should
provide clinicians with confidence that the test results produced are accurate
and can be relied on for the correct diagnosis and management of diseases
through evidence-based medicine benchmarked to international standards.
“They should also reassure our people that their test
results are reliable. Research entities and international health institutions
can also rely on test results from this laboratory and know that they can
partner with MedLabs in making further advances in medicine.
“Globally governments and communities are facing major
public health concerns such as cholera, tuberculosis, malaria and HIV. Without
laboratory services, the diagnosis, treatment and therapy evaluation of these
would be difficult. Medical laboratories therefore play a major role in health
delivery systems,” he said.
He went on to say that his ministry is satisfied that Zimbabwe
still has the skills and expertise required to make inroads into new
territories in medical care.
He said his ministry is confident too that, despite
the challenges the health sector faces, Zimbabwe can transform its public health
institutions into world class facilities through public-private partnerships.
“It is our hope that eventually the trend of medical
tourism, which has seen our people seeking medical attention in other countries
such as South Africa and India, will soon be a thing of the past and that we
can confidently offer affordable quality health services locally which will
themselves attract medical tourism from other countries in the region.
“We have many of the medical skills already. What is
needed is further resources and a commitment by all those in the health sector
to contributing to the transformation of this sector and of our health
institutions and facilities,” he said.
Dr Moyo noted that Zimbabwe still has a long way to go
as a country in achieving this but said it was pleasing that the nation already
has medical laboratories such as the new Cimas MedLabs laboratory of a high
international standard that can be relied on for accurate diagnostic
information.
