Nurses downed tools last week over poor conditions at Boitumelo Regional Hospital in Kroonstad, where crumbling infrastructure is hampering patient care, and where buckets in wards and theatres are strategically placed to collect water from leaking ceilings.
Rethabile Nyelele, writing for GroundUp, said an extension of the ageing hospital building and upgrades had started in 2010. In July 2014, further renovations were done.
But staff, who spoke to GroundUp on condition of anonymity, said conditions were deteriorating, with leaking ceilings and broken windows covered with cardboard.
Fed up nurses and other staff protested last week over the poor conditions – also demanding to be paid for overtime. Most have since resumed their duties, pending further negotiations with management on 17 February.
Boitumelo is the only regional hospital in the Fezile Dabi District and caters for patients from about 19 surrounding towns. The hospital has six theatres but GroundUp was told of at least 80 patients whose surgeries had to be rescheduled between October and December 2022.
“I’ve been going to the hospital for surgery since 2018 … They keep postponing,” said one patient, while another, who lives about 100km away, had been scheduled for a gallstone removal on 19 January 2023, but was told to return in April because “ the theatre is not working”.
Hospital CEO Sibongile Mthimkhulu referred questions to the Free State Department of Health.
The department’s spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, responded with a screengrab from a memo sent by Mthimkhulu, detailing progress made on infrastructure repairs. The memo stated that ceiling panels had been replaced and two theatres had been painted, among other things.
But when GroundUp went back to the hospital, ceiling panels were still broken and we were told that some of the theatres were not yet fully functional.
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