ST LUKE’S Hospital, situated about 150km from Bulawayo in Matabeleland North, has become a health time bomb due to the non-availability of water caused by intermittent powers cuts.
Richard Muponde Senior Reporter
The situation is so bad that the hospital is turning away critically ill people as it cannot admit them due to non-availability of water and staff members are reportedly using the bush to relieve themselves.
Reports said the mortuary was closed as it could not keep bodies for fear they could decompose due to erratic power supplies.
Student nurses who are sitting for their exams this year, have not been spared, as they have to study using candles.
An employee at the health institution, who spoke on condition of anonymity, yesterday said the health institution was now referring patients to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo.
“We didn’t have electricity and water for the past week,” she said.
“The problem is a recurrent one and we are now turning people away because of the water situation and there is no end in sight.
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“It is unsafe and the morgue closed.”
The employee explained that there were power cuts every Saturday and electricity would only be restored four days later.
“We can’t even use blair toilets because there is no water to clean them,” she lamented.
The employee said the hospital could not conduct critical tests as electricity was always unavailable.
“Serious or critical cases are being sent to Mpilo Central Hospital,” she said.
“Doctors are refusing to treat them because there is no water.”
Zesa spokesperson Fulhard Gwasira and the doctor in charge of the health institution, George Mutizira, could not be reached for comment on their mobile phones yesterday.
