Heavy rain affected health services
The part worst affected was the female medical ward, particularly the ward for patients with tuberculosis (TB).
“The rain leaked through the roof and it couldn’t be fixed while it was raining,” said a staff member, who asked to remain anonymous. The ward usually houses six patients, but was empty on the day OurHealth visited.
“It will take a day to fix this problem, and in the meantime the patients will be admitted to the next ward,’ said the source. ‘This is the first time we experienced such a problem, but now that the rain stopped the contractors will start working on it.’
A 32-year-old patient, who didn’t want to be named, said: ‘By the time the rain started pouring from the roof, we were taken to another ward. There were only three of us and we were so fortunate that this happened during the weekend because the ward was not full. We do not expect such things to happen in hospital, we only experience this at our homes”.
Hospital management was not available for comment. OurHealth/Health-e News Service
Tandeka Vinjwa-Hlongwane is an OurHealth Citizen Journalist reporting from Lusikisiki in the OR Tambo health district in the Eastern Cape
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