WHITE RIVER – Patients and staff at Themba Hospital are at their wits end. The hospital is without water, again.
The entire KaBokweni has been dry for the past couple of weeks. It is a reoccurring problem which has plagued the area for the past few years.
Reasons include infrastructure being stolen and raw-water pump stations which cannot cope with filling the area’s reservoirs. Lowvelder has been inundated with calls from health workers as well as relatives of patients at Themba.
“I don’t know how much more of this I can take. We are all at risk of contracting a horrible disease. We as caregivers cannot wash our hands and patients cannot be bathed. Service delivery is basically at a standstill,” a source who works in the hospital, said. “Patients are being turned away, but none of the other hospitals in the area are willing to accept them as they feel Themba’s management should have been more proactive in addressing this reoccurring problem,” another source said.
The non-functionality of the laundry is adding to the problem of hygiene maintenance and theatres are also not functional as a result. “Patients are not being supplied with clean linen and there are no clean sheets to use in theatre. Therefore none of the theatres are currently operational,” the source claimed.
However, spokesman for the provincial Department of Health, Mr Dumisiani Malalume, refuted this, saying that theatres are operational.
Also read: Several patients taken to other hospitals because of water crisis
“No emergency patients have been turned away or not operated on because of the water crisis. Yes, the laundry cannot operate because of the water shortage, but laundry staff are being dispatched to other facilities to wash the linen there,” he said. The employer of a woman whose daughter is currently being treated in Themba, called the situation “disgusting”. “I went to visit her there. The toilets cannot flush and she cannot even be bathed. It is a playground for germs,” the employer said.
“This problem has been ongoing for several years now. We have urged management to take proactive measures in addressing the crisis, on numerous occasions. We understand that the entire KaBokweni has been left dry, but it is unacceptable for a hospital not to have access to clean, running water. Tankers are bringing in water on a daily basis, but it is not nearly enough. We have been told that the MEC (for health) is not even aware of the problem,” the sources said.
In reaction to this, Malamule confirmed that the department has supplied “Jojos” or tanks as a temporary measure.
“It has provided its own water tanker to assist if there is a crisis. It has also asked experts from other departments to investigate the feasibility of drilling boreholes. Mbombela Local Municipality is also assisting the hospital with the supply of water through their water tankers,” he said.
Also read: Patient’s relative disgusted by lack of water at hospital
He concluded by saying that the MEC Mr Gillion Mashego is aware of the situation and he has “assisted in seriously engaging relevant stakeholders in resolving the water problem”.
