Heavy rains disrupt operations at Matikwana Hospital

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Services have been partially affected at the Matikwana Hospital near Mkhulu, in Mpumalanga, due to a leaking roof.

The continuous rain has caused damage to some of the wards in the hospital and the patients in the affected wards have been moved to other wards.

It is alleged that machines in the X-ray room were damaged and some office floors are waterlogged.

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has accused the government of failing to revamp the hospital. Nehawu’s Branch Chairperson, Poppy Thulare says they might consider closing down the hospital if repairs are not done as soon as possible.

“The hospital is leaking everywhere and patients are sleeping in pools of water. Machines are malfunctioning and computers are not working. So, we are calling on the government to intervene. We have a serious problem here.”

Meanwhile, Health MEC in Mpumalanga, Sasekani Manzini visited the hospital and promised that it will be fixed soon.

“We know the hospital in question and we are attending to infrastructure problems. We are building a state-of-the-art hospital at Mapulaneng. It is impossible for us to build all hospitals at once, in terms of this one and other hospitals, we will be able to deal with maintenance to make it a conducive environment.”