First Lady to help rebuild St Luke’s Hospital

Leonard Ncube and Sallomy Matare
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, through her Angel of Hope Foundation, is mobilising resources to rebuild St Luke’s Hospital in Matabeleland North Province which was gutted by fire.

The Roman Catholic hospital, situated at Kenmaur in Lupane District, is the only referral hospital in Matabeleland North.

The inferno brought hospital operations to a halt as $250 000 worth of property comprising equipment, medicines and records were reduced to ashes.

Angel of Hope Foundation, in partnership with Matter Foundation of United States and Love for Africa from Victoria Falls, have so far mobilised $250 000 to re-equip the hospital after construction has been done, the foundation’s board chair Mrs Chipo Mtasa, has said.

She was speaking at handover of an innovation hub initiated by the three organisations at Victoria Falls Primary School on Wednesday.

“Angel of Hope Foundation has always worked at health centres to assist mostly on cancer, nutrition and equipment mobilisation projects,” she said. “After the sad tragedy that struck St Luke’s, Angel of Hope Foundation reached out to partners and Matter Foundation has come in to bring medical equipment worth $250 000.”

Mrs Mtasa said efforts are underway to identify other partners to help rebuild the hospital.

The foundation does humanitarian projects countrywide.

Mrs Mtasa said Angel of Hope Foundation came up with a three-year framework where they are targeting a number of hospitals in the country in every province, catering for the needs and challenges they face.

After initiating a nutritional garden which the First Lady commissioned at Victoria Falls Hospital on Wednesday, her foundation has set sights on United Bulawayo Hospitals and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals as the next port of call for starting similar projects. One of Love for Africa directors Mr Blessing Munyenyiwa told the Wednesday gathering that he alerted Matter Foundation about the St Luke’s inferno and proposed that something had to be done.

Matter Foundation president Mr Quenton Marty said his organisation did not directly do construction work, hence the choice of donating hospital equipment rather than engaging in the actual rebuilding of the institution.

“We are excited about the partnership we have in Zimbabwe and we intend to assist St Luke’s Hospital which was destroyed by fire,” he said. “We will bring $250 000 worth of medical equipment once construction is completed to get the hospital functioning again.”

Matter Foundation operates in 50 countries around the world.