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PIGG’S PEAK GOVT HOSPITAL CRISIS

By SIBONGILE SUKATI | 2024-04-19

While things are falling apart at the Pigg’s Peak Government Hospital, the ministry of health is elusive with answers on what is happening at the medical facility.

The facility is plagued by broken equipment and rotting food as the cold-room is malfunctioning, raising fears of contamination resulting in food poisoning, and patients forced to sleep without hospital bedding as the laundry machine is faulty.

This comes as the ministry of health on Monday commemorated World Health Day where Minister, Mduduzi Matsebula, said they had noted a gap in creating an enabling environment for individuals to take positive health decisions and that meant addressing things that were beyond the individual’s power yet directly had an impact on the health of that particular person.

The minister said this included access to clean water, clean air, environmental issues, proper infrastructure and the availability of healthy food.

However, concerned staff members have raised red flags, drawing attention to the perilous situation they are faced with.

They said things had got worse from the drugs shortage crisis and were now actually frightening.

They listed a number of faults with the hospital’s major equipment, which includes a non-functional cold room, a broken industrial washing machine and medical waste littered all over the hospital as it has not been burnt.

This is because according to the members of staff the hospital is without fuel, which is used to get the incinerator fired up and burn the medical waste, which also includes used syringes.

As a result, the buckets of used syringes (sharp containers) are stacked in a corner next to the other medical waste that had not been disposed of.

The last two drums of fuel, according to the staff members, were delivered on March 19 and last for about a week.

“The incinerator was delivered to the hospital around December last year and was commissioned on January 15,” said the source.

“However, since there has been no fuel, the hospital has not been able to get rid of the waste,” said another member of staff member.

On the issue of the non-functioning cold room, the employees reported that the compressor was not functional and as a result they were forced to keep the food in a non-operational fridge.

They said as a result food items such as dairy products were not being kept under cold temperatures and that these included dairy products and vegetables.

“We are afraid that this will lead to food contamination which will result in food poisoning,” complained the staff members who said they were concerned about their welfare as much as that of the patients.

Some of the food items kept in the cold room include sour milk (emasi), tomatoes, bread and even meat.

“We were informed that they needed to fix the compressor, but suppliers are reluctant to come because they have not been paid,” said another of the workers, requesting that their identities are protected. It was revealed that the refrigeration facility stopped being operational just the week after Easter Weekend, which was around March 29-April 1.

Another major issue raised was that of the 30kg load washing machine, which also had faulty parts and as a result broke down.

One of the machines was bought in 2020 from one of the Asian countries.

As a result there is only one operational machine, which is not enough to cater for the entire load, according to the workers. To try and rectify the problem, the hospital’s administration is said to have recommended that some of the linen be taken to Mkhuzweni Health Centre.

“As a result for almost the entire weekend some of the linen was not washed,” they added.

The officers said some laundry was transported last Friday at 11am to Mkhuzweni, but was only returned at 6:30pm.

The lack of a properly functioning laundry, according to the officers, was also a high risk because there were also rats that feed on the linen.

“This is especially dangerous for use in the theatre because everything there needs to be totally sterilised and cleaned at certain temperatures,” the officers explained while highlighting the extent of the challenges at the hospital. They said as a result of the non-functioning washing machine, some patients maybe affected in that theatre operations would have to be suspended because everything there needed to be completely sterilised. Still on the laundry room, it was alleged that although an ironing or pressing machine was purchased in November, it was not being used.

“This is because the department is understaffed and we can confidently tell you that the linen is not ironed there,” said the officers.

When the hospital was visited last night it was also found that patients admitted in the maternity ward did not have sheets in their beds and some were forced to use blankets they had personally brought from home.

Mission to get ministry’s comment

SEVERAL attempts to get comment from the ministry of health or the hospital’s administration hit a snag.

First to be contacted was the Senior Hospital Administrator who was identified as a Mkhwanazi and she returned a call saying their protocol was that only the ministry’s communications officer should respond to this matter.

An attempt to call the Hhohho Regional Administrator Mkhosi Khumalo was also made, but he referred all questions to Mkhwanazi.

A text was sent to Dr Velephi Okello, who is the Director of Health Services, and again she referred all questions to the ministry’s Communications Officer Nsindiso Tsabedze.

questionnaire

An e-mail and questionnaire was sent to Tsabedze who confirmed receipt and said he had sent it to the relevant person.

“Please note that our system requires that I wait for responses then send to the principal secretary and minister for checking and approval before I can revert to you. This means that we will take some time to give feedback, especially today because we have other questionnaires already being worked on,” said Tsabedze.

He further said responses would probably be available last night or early today.

“Especially because the PS is on his way to SA and will likely read any responses later,” he said.

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