Kwekwe General hospital has appealed to the government to deploy armed security personnel at the hospital as machete gangs are reportedly and continuously threatening workers.
The medical superintendent at the institution, Patricia Mapanda on Monday said that the gangs will be making follow-ups on their hospitalised colleagues.
She made the appeal when the Health Services Board inspected the institution. Mapanda said that the situation was no longer sustainable. She said:
They would be hiding machetes in their trousers only to bring them out in the hospital wards and in the process threatening nurses on duty.
We need HSB to really consider armed security personnel for the safety of our staff.
Machete gangs have been terrorising miners and members of the public for a sustainable period of time now prompting the police to launch Operation ‘Chikorokoza Ngachipere/ Ukukorokoza Akuphele’, meant to shut down all illegal mining.
Meanwhile, some members of the public are not convinced that authorities are committed to bringing the machete gangs to book saying that these are known people who should be encircled and arrested.
Others believe that the gangs, commonly known as Mashurugwi and or Al Shabab are highly connected making it difficult to bring them to book.
More: News Day