Koster - The Koster Hospital in North West will have a brand new emergency generator with in a week, Health MEC Magome Masike said on Thursday.
“We will bring a generator within a week. Our people deserve better,” he said during his visit at the hospital.
He was visiting the hospital to get firsthand information on what was taking place at the hospital and also to interact with patients and staff on the delivery of quality healthcare - his focal area.
The visit follows a report by the North West portfolio committee on health which highlighted concerns such as the state of some medical equipment at the hospital and the state of infrastructure and the general maintenance of the hospital.
Despite complains that the hospital did not have warm water, patients told Masike that they have warm water. “Did you bath, was there water warm or cold?” he asked one patient. The patient replied saying: “The water was warm.” Masike asked him again: “Was the water warm or cold?” The patient replied and said: “For the four weeks I have been admitted at this hospital I have never bathe in cold water.”
Masike asked the patient if he was told what to say or if someone coached him, but he said he was not told what to say but that it was what he had seen.
Masike said the generator at the hospital was too old and no parts were available to repair it. The hospital was plunged into darkness when there were power outages.
There was also complaints that the hospital does not have warm water. “The pipe system was made in a way that warm water only goes to white wards and ward catering for black patient did not have access to warm water,” he said. He explained that the hospital was built in the 1960s to cater for whites patient and in 1980 wards were to introduced for black patients, those wards did not have water.
He said the situation would be rectified and also there was need for a tertiary hospital in Rustenburg to reduce overcrowding at the Job Shimankane Hospital (JSH) in Rustenburg. “JSH cannot cope, the demand is too much.”
African News Agency