The Avenues Clinic Principal Nursing Officer, Florence Ogwal (second from left) explains the upgrades during a tour of the wards
BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
The Avenues Clinic has reopened its maternity ward and critical care units following a US$4 million upgrade aimed at strengthening its position as one of the leading medical institutions in the country and the region.
The latest refurbishment is part of ongoing modernisation works at the hospital, which have already seen several departments being upgraded.
“I’m sure most of us recall that this is a journey that we have been embarking.
“So far we have done our surgical ward on the first floor, we have done our medical ward which is again on the first floor.
“On the second floor we have done our private ward as well as our ops and gynae ward as well,” said The Avenues Clinic General Manager, Sibusisiwe Ndhlovu, during a tour on Friday.
She added: “as The Avenues Clinic we are in this bid to refurbish our hospital so that the infrastructure is in line with everything else that we are going.
“We want to maintain our brand, we want to give patients that home feel, we don’t want them to worry about their surroundings.
“I think when we are in hospital the least that you really expect is to be as comfortable as possible because you are dealing with pain and so on.”
Ndhlovu said while the clinic was already satisfied with the standard of care being offered by its staff, the focus was now on ensuring the infrastructure matches that level.
“What was left from us was to match that standard of clinical care with the infrastructure and this is what we are doing,” she added.
She said the maternity unit now has a seven-bedded private ward and eight shared beds, a move informed by patient feedback.
“This is actually in response to patient feedback, we found that after we opened to south private downstairs most of the mothers after giving birth they wanted to go to private.”
Ndhlovu also revealed that the clinic had upgraded its neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“We are proud of this unit because of the clinical outcomes that we get in this unit where you find that even babies as young as 26 weeks, they have come into this ward and we have had the babies actually go home after being taken care of.”
Chief Financial Officer Peddy Chigunduru said the hospital had deliberately invested in high-impact areas.
“So far, we have deployed from the units that we have done, we have deployed almost nearly US$4 million now.
“And that US$4 million is a combination of infrastructure revival, renewal, and investment in clinical equipment.
“Because the beauty that you see must go in line with the service level that we intend to deploy.
“So we’ve also invested in high-tech equipment,” said Chigunduru.
He said part of the investment focused on upgrading medical equipment to meet global standards.
“So in terms of equipment alone, we have also deployed at least US$2,5 million just to revive the equipment and make sure that we are meeting global standards.
“We are very deliberate, we still are going, like what the general manager said, we intend to deploy more capital to make sure that the technology that you see here, we should even collaborate with other international institutions so that they are able to do advanced procedures in collaboration with our own medical staff in the country,” added Chigunduru.
He added, “will continue building so that ultimately our dream is to make sure the avenue is the center of excellence, clinical excellence, surgical, medical.
“All procedures should be held in one place.”
