The Sunday News
Richard Muponde, Plumtree Correspondent
TSHELANYEMBA Hospital in Matobo District might be forced to close as it has gone for three months without electricity, a situation that has made life difficult for patients and staff members who have also been grappling with water shortages for some time.
The situation is said to be dire at the Salvation Army Church-run institution, as a single generator at the hospital is not generating enough to cover demand.
Some villagers said they were told to buy fuel if they wanted their relatives’ bodies to be accommodated at the hospital’s mortuary.
The institution has also been facing serious water shortages since the only pump is not working because of the electricity problem, forcing staff and patients to access untreated water from Shashani River about two kilometres away.
Hospital administrator Mr Taurai Mukwamuri confirmed the issue and said the institution was facing mounting problems.
“It’s true, we haven’t had electricity for the past three months. Copper cables were stolen from Arda Antelope at Maphisa up to Matjilo area. It’s a serious problem for us to run the hospital. You can come down here and see for yourself how dire the situation is. We once went to Zesa Gwanda office and they told us that they don’t have the cables and were still looking for them,” said Mr Mukwamuri.
Matabeleland South provincial medical officer Dr Chipo Chikodzore said she not aware of the power problems at the health institution and promised to investigate.
Efforts to get a comment from ZETDC Gwanda manager Mr Todd Ntombi were fruitless as his mobile phone was unreachable.
A source at the health institution said they were fears that the hospital might close again.
“It’s been three months now without electricity. Life is difficult here for us and the patients. We are relying on a single generator which is overwhelmed by demand for lighting, running fridges and the mortuary. This has also affected our water supplies. There are fears that we might close if the problem persists,” said the source.
She said relatives of deceased people were forced to buy fuel to run the generator if they wanted bodies to be kept in the mortuary.
“It’s too expensive for rural people to do that, especially when the health institution itself is failing to sustain the demand. The problem has also affected the business centre and we are failing to get fresh food from there,” she said.
Problems are not new to the hospital as in 2014, it was forced to close as a result of an acute shortage of drugs, a development that affected thousands of villagers who were solely dependent on the institution for medication
@richardmuponde
