IN a powerful show of community-driven development, residents of Mabvuku and Tafara in Harare are now benefiting from a fully equipped and free medical facility, courtesy of the efforts of their parliamentary representative and entrepreneur, Honourable Scott Sakupwanya.
From maternal care to chronic illness management for the elderly, the facility has redefined community healthcare, with many praising the area legislator for delivering compassionate leadership that is visibly improving lives and bringing much-needed services closer to the people.
“I came here for my ANC bookings but since the services are for free, I was skeptical but was really amazed by the care I got and am still getting here now, I have just delivered my baby girl and am grateful,” said a beneficiary.
“Ever since we started staying here in Mabvuku, we have never had a member of parliament like Honourable Scott, he is fulfilling all his election promises we now have a free clinic like he promised, and the clinic has everything,” noted another.
“My legs and my back have been giving me problems, but I could not go see a doctor because I did not have money so was advised to come to this clinic and now as you can see with what’s written on the card, I got an injection for pain and some pills,” said yet another beneficiary.
What sets Scotland Medical Centre apart from many community clinics is its access to specialist doctors, including obstetricians, gynecologists, and general practitioners, all brought in and paid for directly by Honourable Sakupwanya,” said yet another beneficiary.
“I am a specialist doctor and I work in central and private hospitals and I know the challenges that people face, especially people coming from high-density areas like these. Most of them seek help late and when they come to the central hospitals the disease has advanced. So now, if we give them specialist care at the community level they stand a better chance. In that way, we also decongest our central hospitals and the good thing about this place is that every service is for free,” explained specialist obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr Christopher Chirume.
“Ever since we opened this clinic the response has been remarkable. We are receiving about 70 patients to 80 patients per day. And when we have our ANC days, this is on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we can go up to 130 patients per day. Mainly we see elderly patients and in our elderly patients, we are mainly managing osteoarthritis, chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and gastritis. Those are the main conditions that we are facing. We offer general services for the general population as well as for the elderly. We also offer services for pregnant women. We also offer ultrasound scans, this is free of charge, on Fridays to pregnant women as well,” said a general practitioner, Dr Ruvimbo Nyahoda.
She added, “I think it will actually benefit our population if we expand the hospital in the sense that for now, we are just offering maternity facilities, but there are other patients that come and end up referring to Parirenyatwa but we would actually offer them services here. For example, people will come in a diabetic crisis will need overnight monitoring as well as hypertensive emergency patients who will require monitoring overnight. So it would help if we can expand and monitor those patients.”
Scotland Medical Centre Sister In Charge, Sister Emmah Jakachira indicated that the clinic now serves Mabvuku and its surrounding areas highlighting the positive impact the centre has had on the community.
“Since we opened in March, the response has been overwhelming. We thought our clients were from Mabvuku only, but we are now reaching as far as Epworth. There’s Tafara, there is Zimre Park there’s Chikurubi, and some other nearby places, they are all coming here. Here we cover medical and maternity cases. We have booked more than 20 patients. These are new patients. So we do ANC, the bookings, we do the ANC reviews, which they come on a monthly basis. We also do the deliveries. And for now, I think there’s one patient who has just given birth in the delivery room. So for deliveries, we are doing three or four deliveries per day. The patients here, come for free. But it’s not that there’s free service. There’s somebody who’s catering for those services. We thank the Honourable Mr. Scott, who is paying for all the bills for the patients. And as for ourselves, we are not doing voluntary work. We are here as workers. So we are also getting something from him. So he’s the one who’s catering for all those bills,” she said.
Honourable Scott Sakupwanya’s initiative is a shining example of how political will and personal commitment can bring national development goals to life at the grassroots level.
By funding free, specialist-driven healthcare services in Mabvuku, Sakupwanya is not only addressing immediate health needs but also advancing Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 of universal health access and improved livelihoods.
His efforts echo the national mantra “Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo – Ilizwe Lakhiwa Ngabanikazi Balo”—a reminder that it is the citizens themselves who build their country, one meaningful intervention at a time.
