Govt picks Covid-19 hospital

Dar es Salaam. The government has designated one facility for the treatment of people who will test positive for the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said in Kibaha, Coast Region, on Saturday that a new district hospital in the area will be used for the purpose.

“It will be used for patients who will have tested positive for the coronavirus (Covid-19). It will be used for the purpose temporarily, and when the pandemic finally ends, it will be used to provide normal healthcare services,” he said.

Mr Majaliwa - who is also the chairperson of the National Covid-19 Committee - was speaking during a tour of the health facility in the company of the minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu.

Mr Majaliwa told Kibaha residents that people who test positive for the disease will be admitted at the hospital to undergo treatment and that after 14 days, they will be re-tested. If found to have been healed, they will be discharged.

He reminded Tanzanians of the need to continue with preventive measures by cultivating a tendency of washing their hands with soap or sanitizers.

According to Ms Mwalimu, the Health ministry recently received Sh394 million to complete construction of the hospital.

Meanwhile, experts, politicians and the general public kept airing their views on how to prevent spread of the coronavirus disease in the country - and how to minimise the economic impact of the pandemic. The ACT-Wazalendo party leader, Mr Zitto Kabwe, said yesterday that he had written to President John Magufuli proposing eight issues whose implementation could be helpful.

The political opposition party is proposing complete closure of Tanzania’s borders until the pandemic is effectively controlled.

Preventing the crowding of people in public transport facilities should be given special importance, with ACT-Wazalendo proposing that army and police vehicles be used to transport people in urban centres!

While noting that a number of economic sectors, including tourism, are already being adversely affected by the pandemic, Mr Kabwe said it was high time that experts conducted a thorough analysis of how Covid-19 will impact Tanzania’s economy.

However, the minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Phillip Mpango, said almost two weeks ago that experts from his ministry must work together with their counterparts from the central Bank of Tanzania - and come up with a comprehensive report on the effects of Covid-19 on the economy.

Mr Kabwe has also recommended the importance of solidarity at this time when the nation is fighting the Covid-19 scourge.

“There is not any other time when the nation needs solidarity like now. The president has an obligation to unite Tanzanians because, being united, we can fight and win - or we fall together,” he said.

He said there is a need for the president to speak with leaders of the political parties, religious institutions, civil societies and other social groups to formulate joint efforts to fight the killer pandemic.

Mr Kabwe said his political party was ready to join hands with the government to formulate scientific strategies to mitigate the adverse economic effects of the Covid-19 malady.

Another recommendation is that the government should increase screening of people to determine the scope of the problem - and put people who are positive under quarantine for treatment, to avoid new infections.

He said the speed of the current screening is low, calling for the release of emergency funds approved by Parliament for the 2019/2020 budget to boost the national campaign against Covid-19.

My Kabwe also said that there is a need for the government to regularly provide data on total cases, new cases, patients in severe conditions and the death toll.

“Transparency has helped countries like South Korea, while secrecy has cost China. I request the president not to feel shy when it comes to revealing numbers of cases, as this should not be considered as a normal disease,” he said.