Themba Hospital’s water issues are a great concern
Some patients and the public shared their frustrations on social media
While the Department of Health admitted that Themba Hospital has been facing water challenges, it denied that this this affecting services.
This was communicated to Lowvelder yesterday in a reply to a media inquiry. Some patients and the public shared their frustrations on social media.
The public is concerned that during this pandemic, according to statistics released on February 7, 1 073 people had died of Covid-19 in the province.
The guidelines of Covid-19 require people to wash or sanitise their hands and to keep their vicinity clean to help fight the spread, yet Themba Hospital does not have water, according to frustrated members of the community.
ALSO READ: Covid-19: Mpumalanga’s total death toll stands at 1 133
The posts on Facebook stated that the hospital had been without water for a couple of days.
The spokesperson for the provincial Department of Health, Dumisani Malamule, said, “Yes, there are water problems from the municipality supply and the municipality is attending to the matter. The services are running as we are using water from JoJo tanks. The municipality is currently delivering water with water tanks.”
The posts on social media meanwhile stated that things are not going well and that intervention was required. According to a post shared on Facebook on Monday, the hospital was without water and the toilets were flooded.
The post also alleged there was no water in the JoJo tanks. Ndo Zanele Masuku Ndo wrote, “Themba Hospital runs without water for so many days, the toilets outside are flooding with s***, what are the JoJo tanks for? How is everyone there supposed to survive in this pandemic? What is the government doing? Where is service delivery to the public?”
This social media user continued to state, “On Sunday afternoon the doctors left, saying they cannot work in such conditions, leaving some patients unattended, come to think of it. What is supposed to happen makunje (with circumstances like these)?”
This is not the first time that the hospital has faced water shortage challenges. In 2018, patients’ surgeries were postponed as a result of another shortage
ALSO READ: Lack of water stops surgery at Themba Hospital
