Aggrieved Harare Resident Seeks to Block Establishment of Coronavirus Medical Clinic in Residential Suburb

AN aggrieved Harare resident on Saturday 28 March 2020 filed an urgent chamber application in the High Court seeking an order to stop the establishment of a medical facility in a residential suburb to cater for some people suffering from the deadly coronavirus.

In an application filed at the High Court, Roger Stringer, a resident of Mt Pleasant suburb in Harare protested against the renovation and upgrading of Rock Foundation Medical Facility, which according to media reports is being turned into an isolation centre for the admission and management of people suffering from coronavirus by Sakunda Holdings and Health and Child Care Minister Obadiah Moyo.

Stringer, who resides at a property that is adjacent to the medical facility is apprehensive that he is being exposed to a greater risk of contracting coronavirus should the medical facility be used for the admission of some patients and that his right to an environment that is not harmful to his health or well-being is about to be violated.

The Harare resident argued that Sakunda Holdings and Moyo are not authorised by law to violate his entitlement to the protection of the law in relation to the role of the local authority in managing infectious diseases and the right to be consulted afforded to residents in Mt Pleasant suburb.

He argued that no measures have been or are being put in place to minimise the exposure of himself, his family and other residents brought upon by the use of such a facility as a referral centre for an infectious disease.

Stringer said the site for the medical facility is connected to a reticulated sewer main across Norfolk road in Mt Pleasant suburb which is intertwined with water supply and with the same sewer reticulation mains which service his household and therefore puts himself and his family at greater risk of contracting the highly infectious coronavirus.

Stringer said Sakunda Holdings and Moyo can make use of some established facilities for infectious diseases such as Wilkins Hospital and Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital which are all run by City of Harare for the admission and management of patients diagnosed with coronavirus and of which these facilities have not been proved to be inadequate for the purposes of containing the deadly outbreak.

Source: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

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