MBOMBELA – Patients, who have had to wait months for elective surgery at Rob Ferreira Hospital, are now delayed even further because of a shortage of clean linen.
The problem has been ongoing for six months, but reached crisis level last week as personnel at Themba Hospital have embarked on a strike. Premier Mr David Mabuza recently promised that dilapidated infrastructure and staff issues in state hospitals in the province would be addressed. However, Lowvelder‘s questions to Mabuza and the Department of Health, remain unanswered.
Various sources in the hospital have alerted the newspaper about the crisis, saying that the situation has become unbearable. They chose to remain anonymous, out of fear of victimisation.
“Several theatre lists are being cancelled because of an unavailability of clean linen,” one of the sources said. “Three hours were lost on Friday, another three on Monday and by Tuesday morning we had already lost two because we had to wait for linen.”
The problem persisted on Wednesday and was still not resolved at the time of going to press on Thursday (yesterday). The source explained that up to three gowns and 10 sheets were used for one procedure. “Rob Ferreira doesn’t have a laundromat and its autoclave (steam steriliser) isn’t working. Its linen is transported to Themba Hospital to be sterilised.
“However, Themba regularly experiences problems with water supply and now its personnel have embarked on a strike because of payment issues. We are already limited by time constraints and the shortage of linen isn’t helping,” the source said.
Lowveld Hospital is assisting by sterilising Rob Ferreira’s linen in its autoclave. Although emergency procedures haven’t had to be referred to other hospitals yet, another source added that they had to perform emergencies like C-sections without enough clean linen. “It is dangerous, but it’s a risk they have to take.”
This source also told the newspaper that some theatre personnel had taken it upon themselves to buy supplies like batteries to operate laryngoscopes, out of their own pockets. “Basic necessities are out of stock and personnel are subsidising it themselves in an attempt to assist the province’s people.”
What is even more horrifying, are stories of medical waste, such as amputated legs, that have had to be stored in fridges because Rob Ferreira’s waste is not being removed. “The contract with the service provider has expired, so rubbish – including medical waste – is not being removed regularly. There have been instances at the hospital where bags containing human waste such as amputated legs, were stored in a fridge because it couldn’t be removed timeously,” a third source said.
“It is time that this province is held accountable for its absolute neglect of the people.”
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