By Judith Matanire
The Avenues Clinic has expanded dialysis capacity within its critical care facilities from one access point to 13, a major upgrade expected to reduce the need to move critically ill patients during treatment.
The development is part of a US$500 000 refurbishment of the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), High Dependency Unit (HDU) and Coronary Care Unit (CCU), which was officially commissioned on Monday.
Previously, the clinic had only one dialysis point in its critical care section, meaning patients sometimes had to be moved from their beds when dialysis was required.
The hospital’s managing director, Sibusisiwe Ndhlovu, said the increase to 13 points would allow dialysis to be provided closer to where patients are being managed.
“Before we used to move a patient, the one who was occupying where there is a dialysis point, we would have to move them elsewhere so that we could dialyse the patient, because we only had one point,” she said.
“The big improvement is that we now have more points, we don’t need to be moving the patient, and it means that we can cater for more patients better, faster and in a more comfortable environment.”
The expansion is particularly significant for critically ill patients, for whom unnecessary movement can complicate care and place additional demands on medical staff.
Ndhlovu said the upgraded unit had also been designed to improve the organisation of equipment around patients, with medical gases, power connections and monitoring equipment positioned at individual beds.
“Everything is one place, better patient outcomes, more convenience to the nurses, and also good for the patient in that they don’t need to be moved around,” she said.
The clinic is, however, still awaiting some equipment to complete the planned dialysis infrastructure. Ndhlovu said the facility would be reconfigured once the outstanding equipment arrives.
The dialysis expansion forms part of a wider investment programme that has seen The Avenues Clinic spend about US$4 million on refurbishing the hospital.
Financial controller Oscar Maradzamunda said US$500 000 was invested in the critical care upgrade, while the next phase of the modernisation programme will focus on the hospital’s operating theatres.
The clinic said the continued investment was aimed at improving access to specialised healthcare while supporting efforts to strengthen Zimbabwe’s health sector.
