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Cimas Health Group has renamed its Bulawayo Medical Centre to the Sipho Zwana Medical Centre, honouring the late Dr Sipho Leonard Vivian Zwana, the country’s first black anaesthetist, at a ceremony that coincided with the healthcare provider’s 80th anniversary celebrations.
The renaming ceremony was attended by Cimas Health Group senior management, members of the Zwana family, government officials and representatives of the medical fraternity.
Officially unveiling the new name, Minister of State for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Judith Mkwanda Ncube said the renaming was more than symbolic.
“It is a great honour to join you today here in Bulawayo for an occasion that is about much more than changing the name of a building,” she said. “We are deliberately placing the name, work and memory of one of Zimbabwe’s distinguished medical pioneers in a place where future health professionals, patients and members of the public will encounter it every day.”
Ncube said the honour reflected the importance of recognising individuals whose dedication laid the foundation for Zimbabwe’s healthcare system.
“Today, we are saying that the contribution of those who built Zimbabwe’s health system must not fade with time. We affirm that excellence deserves to be remembered. And, perhaps most importantly, we are saying that a good legacy is not meant only to be admired. It must challenge the next generation to do even better,” she said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Cimas Health Group CEO Vuli Ndlovu said the renaming represented the company’s commitment to preserving the legacy of one of Zimbabwe’s medical pioneers and framed it as an act of receiving rather than giving.
“Today, a family gives something to a company. They are giving us a name, and once we accept it, we can never give it back. That is the weight of this occasion,” he said.
He said Dr Zwana’s decision to specialise in anaesthesia reflected a deeper commitment to selfless service.
“The anaesthetist stands at the head of the bed holding a stranger’s life at the exact point between too much and too little, and when it is over the patient opens their eyes and thanks somebody else. He was the man who watched while you slept,” Ndlovu said.
Born in 1933 at Tekwane Mission, Dr Zwana qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Natal Medical School in South Africa in 1960, before going on to become the first black doctor to serve at Mpilo Hospital. In 1970, he obtained a Fellowship Diploma in Anaesthetics from the Royal College of Surgeons, making him Zimbabwe’s first black anaesthetist. He later served as Medical Superintendent at Parirenyatwa Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals.
His career took him beyond Zimbabwe’s borders to the United Kingdom, Ghana and Kenya, before he returned home to practise until his retirement in 2013, after 52 years in medicine. He died in February 2019.
The renaming coincides with Cimas’s 80th anniversary. Founded in 1945, the organisation has grown from a medical aid society into a broader healthcare and wellness provider, today operating clinics, laboratory services, pharmacy operations and wellness programmes across Zimbabwe.
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