By Flata Kavinga
Kwekwe General Hospital is recording an average of one death per week linked to silicosis, with hospital authorities warning that the occupational lung disease remains a major health challenge in the mining community.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a donation of 100 blankets to the hospital by Pick n Pay, Kwekwe General Hospital medical superintendent Dr Tinashe Gunda said the institution continued to receive a high number of patients suffering from silicosis.
Dr Gunda said the hospital had recorded more than 22 silicosis-related admissions this year, with between 12 and 15 patients admitted at any given time.
“Silicosis is a big challenge in Kwekwe, and currently we don’t have much changes from the previous settings of our cases. We still have a lot of patients who come with silicosis and we still have challenges in managing them,” he said.
He said the hospital was losing approximately one patient every week due to complications associated with the disease.
“We also have deaths about one a week. Two weeks ago, we had about two deaths in one week. So that is the average deaths a week. When it gets to a year, they get up to 50, 60 deaths, which is not good,” Dr Gunda said.
Silicosis is a lung disease caused by prolonged exposure to silica dust, commonly associated with mining activities. Dr Gunda said the condition remained difficult to manage once diagnosed as there was currently no cure.
“Unfortunately, silicosis, when it is there, it is very difficult or it is actually incurable. So we still have a very big challenge,” he said.
He said the hospital was planning community-based interventions targeting mining communities, including health education programmes and screening exercises aimed at early detection and prevention.
“What we need to do is to give health education and even go to the communities, the mining community, to screen them as well as to educate them so that we reduce the cases of silicosis,” he said.
Dr Gunda said the hospital had not yet seen the full impact of measures introduced to address the problem but expressed optimism that increased awareness and screening could help reduce cases.
“We have not yet seen the impact of what we’ve instituted so far, but I’m sure if we then start screening and giving education to the mining community, we may be able to reduce the cases that come to the hospital,” he said.
The medical superintendent said collaboration between healthcare providers, communities and stakeholders in the mining sector would be important in addressing the silicosis burden in Kwekwe.
