Bhisho Hospital patients were forced to discharge themselves, some were sent to recover at home and others were moved to other hospitals amid chaos at the hospital aggravated by this week’s heavy storm, which left a trail of destruction in many municipalities. While the troubled hospital has been experiencing severe water and electricity problems for some time, the storm exacerbated the challenges, with some patients choosing to discharge themselves, saying it was pointless staying in conditions where there was no proper running water or electricity. The provincial health department on Thursday confirmed damage to electricity infrastructure servicing the hospital and water supply problems, as a result of Tuesday afternoon’s heavy and destructive storm, and that it had to move patients to other facilities, while mop up operations and repairs were in progress.
The hospital has had to use a generator for power on many occasions in recent months and after the storm when wards were plunged into darkness. Fed-up patients, however, claimed the generator is non-functional and without diesel most of the time, leaving their wards and corridors completely in the dark. They say energy supply challenges had stalled critical medical procedures and affected the provision of running water to the ailing facility.
This week’s heavy storm left a trail of destruction in several parts of the province, particularly areas around Buffalo City Metro and local municipalities in the Amathole district. Rooftops were blown off and trees uprooted, houses, schools and churches damaged, and a huge number of people were left homeless, including in several wards in BCM. Two patients, who did not want to be named, said the situation at the hospital was dire.
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“I was admitted after suffering some serious abdominal pains. I had been at the hospital for just over two weeks, but I cannot tell you how many times we experienced electricity outages. “The place is unhygienic.
Nurses there are forced to go up and down ferrying water from water tanks,” he said. The man said he had opted to discharge himself and rather recover at home this week, “as it is pointless to stay and recover in such unhygienic conditions, where there was no water or electricity”.
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