RUNDU – The Rundu Intermediate Hospital is struggling to ensure hygienic hospital conditions as water cuts continue to haunt the town where the town council can’t afford to keep the town’s tap running. The hospital’s dialysis patients are also affected as patients with kidney problems cannot undergo dialysis as the machines need clean water to make them safe and clean.
The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Joseph Mukerenge, told New Era in a short interview that the town’s water crisis has been affecting the hospital’s daily operations.
“The cleanliness of the hospital depends on water. The preparation of food for patients also needs water, as well as the cleaning of instruments and, most importantly, we have patients with kidney problems who are getting dialysis and those dialysis machines also use water, so without water we can’t do dialysis and that is putting patients at risk, that is jeopardising someone’s health,” Mukerenge noted.
Like any other institution in Rundu the hospital also gets its water from the Rundu Town Council and when there is no water in town, the public hospital also doesn’t have water, although they have a water reservoir but it also gets depleted when the town’s water runs out because this reservoir is normally filled up by the town council’s main water pipeline.
“Without water, you know we have patients and they also want to use the ablution facilities and the facility needs to be cleaned, it’s just a health hazard. Diseases can easily spread and it’s just not good for a hospital. Just like the entire town, the hospital is also constantly out of water and that is hindering our daily operations, and we ensure that our services with the council are always paid on time,” Mukerenge further explained.
The hospital also complained its waste is not collected on time by the council, making it another health hazard as the hospital waste is supposed to be disposed of at least once weekly.