Bulawayo City Council to make male circumcision easily accessible

Bulawayo City Council is working with Population Services International and intends to extend the service of male circumcision to its clinics in a bid to ensure that the service is accessible to residents in their own locality.

Currently, male circumcision is carried out at the Bulawayo Eye Clinic along Samuel Parirenyatwa Street. Dr Zanele Hwalima, the Director of Health Services said that male circumcision helps reduce chances of contracting HIV, although it did not guarantee total protection against contracting the virus.

She reported that male circumcision, which is the surgical removal of the skin that covers the head of the penis, was currently accessible from specific health care centres in the country, adding that while males were strongly encouraged to get circumcised at designated centres, they should continue to use other methods of prevention that include abstinence, one faithful partner and consistent and correct use of condoms.

"In Bulawayo currently, one can access the Male Circumcision Centre at the Population Services Centre (PSI), which is open from 8am to 4pm during the week," said Dr Hwalima. She noted that the centre offered the services free of charge, although there were conditions for accessing the service. "One has to be reviewed on the 21 after the procedure. It is a very simple and safe operation by well trained doctors and there usually are no complications. One should also be 13 years of age and above and to have been recently screened for HIV and come out negative," she said.

Dr Hwalima urged the residents of the City of Bulawayo to make use of the male circumcision clinic.

"Currently the centre is performing a sizeable amount of operations per day but still has capacity to do even more. No one should be afraid of being turned away on the basis of "full bookings," said Dr Hwalima.