GWERU – Zimbabwe General Medical Aid Fund (ZG Medical), a Midlands-based medical aid insurance company, over the weekend donated detergents and foodstuffs to victims of the typhoid disease outbreak that has killed seven people in Gweru.
The donation was made to Mkoba 1 Municipal Clinic through the Gweru City Council Health Department.
The consignment included baked beans, sodium hydro-chloride packs, latex gloves, hand gloves and methylated spirit.
Receiving the donations on behalf of Gweru City Council was Rodgers Fusirayi and the Mkoba 1 Clinic Sister in Charge Magaya, while ZG Medical was represented by Vanessa Moyo, the Public Relations Officer, and Business Development Officer Takudzwa Gumbo.
Gumbo said as a Midlands based company it was incumbent upon them to assist in such cases.
“Our main goal as a medical aid is to provide quality health care for every Zimbabwean. It is upon us as a health services provider to offer assistance in any health challenge faced in our city or province.
“We open our doors to the public because that is where our concern is,” Gumbo said.
Mother company TM Group Chairman Tinashe Manzungu said the donation is a show of good faith to the Midlands community.
“Our intervention in the outbreak is a sure sign of our good ties with the people in the Midlands Province.
“We want the public to know that they can always count on us because we are here for the people. We provide quality health care for all,” Manzungu said.
The typhoid outbreak was first officially reported in three areas in Mkoba but is now believed to be spreading, still with no consensus on the source of the bacteria. Gweru City Council blames open wells and boreholes, while the government says the source is council water.
Meanwhile, Moyo said the company is mainly targeting the informal sector which has been marginalised by most medical aid service providers.
“Our primary concern is that every Zimbabwean citizen has the right to access quality health care,” she said.