The Church has had a hospital at Mbuma for over 50 years. But from the beginning of the Zimbabwe mission there was a need for medical work. Rev John Tallach, who laboured for 24 years on the mission, found that much of his time was spent attending to people’s medical needs. In 1928 he was relieved of his medical responsibilities by Rev Roderick MacDonald, who had graduated in medicine at Edinburgh University. After taking a course in tropical medicine he began medical work at the Inwenya mission.
Beginnings were small. He had a little two-roomed hospital – one room was the dispensary, the other a ward with two beds. The floors were of concrete and the roof was corrugated iron. In his first year he had 2,000 consultations. Medical work started at Mbuma in 1954. The first wing of the current hospital was built in 1962.
During the past 50 years Mbuma Mission Hospital has developed into a facility which is delivering a broad range of services and catering for approximately 20,000 people. It started with one or two members of staff, but today over 90 people are employed. In 2013 the hospital had 2,190 admissions, almost 7,000 child welfare clinic attendances, almost 3,000 antenatal/postnatal attendances, as well 767 births. Other services provided include laboratory, radiology, opportunistic infections clinic, TB clinic and a home based care department.
The Hospital has a Catechist who sows the Word of God, conducting worship morning and evening, leading Bible classes and dealing on a one to one basis with patients and relatives on spiritual matters.
More information about the work of the hospital and hospital statistics can be found in the annual Synod Reports.