Times Of Swaziland: ‘CLOSE LUBOMBO REFERRAL HOSPITAL’

‘CLOSE LUBOMBO REFERRAL HOSPITAL’
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  BY KHULEKANI NENE on 19/07/2019 01:09:00


SITEKI- Environmental health inspectors have recommended that Lubombo Referral
hospital be closed due to unhygienic conditions.
This was revealed by regional health officials, during a tour of the facility by
the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), yesterday afternoon.
The facility officially started operating in October 2014 but the infrastructure
is literally falling apart.
Some of the key operating equipment at the facility have broken down and this
includes the incinerator.
An incinerator is an apparatus for burning waste material, especially industrial
waste at high temperatures until it is reduced to ash.
Toilets at the facility are also not functioning well because of the poor
quality of the flushing system.
Dysfunctional
The air conditioning system is also dysfunctional. The whole roof of the
facility is leaking and this often disturbs the medical staff when treating
patients.
Hospital Administrator Vumile Dlamini showed PAC members some of the rooms with
leaking roofs.
At the laboratory, staff members literally have to mop the floor during the
rainy season, she said.
In some rooms, there are falling ceilings and electricity transmitting cables,
something which places the lives of both patients and staff in danger. Making
the situation worse is that even staff houses have leaking roofs.
Lubombo Regional Health Administrator William Shongwe said officials from the
public works department recently visited the facility and recommended that the
whole roofing be started afresh.
He told PAC members that following the tour by public works officials, health
inspectors also visited the facility to assess the situation.
Shongwe disclosed to the PAC that in their report, health inspectors recommended
that the facility be shut down until the structure is rehabilitated.
PAC member MP Busisiwe Mavimbela suggested that the government engineer, who was
supervising the company that constructed the structure should be taken to task
for the apparent inefficiency.
She said it was worrying that government had spent millions constructing the
facility, only for its structures to deteriorate in less than five years after
it started operating.
PAC chairman MP Phila Buthelezi wondered why the hospital was seemingly being
neglected by ministry of health officials while other facilities, like Mbabane
Government hospital, were getting more attention.
“The other hospital in the region is more expensive than this one. The public
needs this facility hence it should be rehabilitated before falling apart,”
said Buthelezi.
He said the PAC would compile a report on its findings and then make
recommendations, one of which is the allocation of a budget to complete phase
one of the Lubombo referral hospital.
Lungile Shongwe, Under Secretary (technical) in the Ministry of Health,
appreciated the visit by the PAC.
She told the PAC members that the ministry was doing all in its power to ensure
that the facility operated in hygienic and standard health conditions.
However, she told PAC members that most of the challenges at the facility were
caused by government’s cash flow challenges.
Construction of the Lubombo Referral hospital began with the clearing of the
ground during the 2002/3 government financial year.
However, the construction process was later halted for a number of years before
it commenced in 2011.