Waiting and hoping. That is how patients who access medical services at Elim Hospital in Limpopo have spent the past six years waiting for the provision of a running water supply. Currently, Elim Hospital is faced with a critical shortage of water.
Water woes at the hospital began in early 2019 when two boreholes drilled to supply the hospital with water dried up and could no longer pump water. A makeshift borehole was drilled outside the hospital, but it also failed to pump enough water.
Challenges faced by patients
Currently, the hospital is supplied by water tankers from the Vhembe district municipality (VDM), however, it has proven to not be enough to fulfil the needs of patients and medical staff. Admitted patients report spending days without bathing and they also must ask their families to bring them bottled water for drinking purposes.
“Everything here is just a mess, most of the days we cannot even bathe nor flush the toilets and the smell inside the wards becomes unbearable.
Elim Hospital patient
“Some days the water is only available for less than an hour and very early in the morning and if you do not wake up and bathe at that moment, you’re bound to go an entire day without bathing,” says Michael Maluleke*, a patient who was admitted at Elim.
The World Health Organisation recommends that between 50 and 100 litres of water per person per day are needed to ensure that most basic needs are met and to limit health concerns.
‘Nothing is being done’
Bertha Chiguvare, who works for the non-profit organisation Lawyers for Human Rights, says that they have on several occasions raised the issue with the Limpopo health department but nothing concrete is being done to address the situation.
“All they do is promise that the water shortages will be addressed but it’s been years now and nothing has been done. And what hurt us the most is that patients are the ones who are left to suffer at that hospital,” says Chiguvare.
Matodzi Ralushai, the spokesperson of VDM which is the sole water provider in Vhembe, says they are very aware of water shortages at Elim Hospital.
“We have just had successful meetings with the provincial department of health, [and] local traditional leaders and we have agreed that the borehole line used to supply the hospital with water be refurbished or upgraded. The line had stopped working after it was heavily tempered with by the community members and businesspeople,” explains Ralushai.
The spokesperson for Limpopo department of health Neil Shikwambana acknowledges that Elim Hospital is faced with a critical shortage of water and the situation is negatively affecting the provision of health services at the hospital.
“The situation has not changed at Elim Hospital. We still rely on the water from municipal trucks because of the perforation of the mainline coming to the hospital at the community level,” says Shikwambana.
He says the hospital is currently unable to carry its full mandate due to water shortages.
“In terms of performing duties, it is not an ideal situation because this also means that the pressure of the water is not enough to reach all areas of the hospital,” says Shikwambana.
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Why medical facilities need clean running water
Meanwhile, GroundUp reported that the new Magwedzha clinic in Dumasi village, outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo, has been operating without running water for over 11 months.
Dr Logandran Naidoo, national medical director at the Aids Healthcare Foundation says a lack of clean running tap water has direct consequences for healthcare provision at any level of care.
“Clean water is a primary element for effective infection control. Hand hygiene, apart from other measures through washing with soap and water, is a simple step healthcare workers take to prevent the spread of infections that are transmissible by contact,” explains Naidoo.
Naidoo says water is also needed for cleaning the environment, including spills, floors and linen.
“Patient personal hygiene and sanitation require a clean water supply. Sterilisation of medical and surgical instruments and equipment through steam also relies on water supply.”
Dr Logandran Naidoo
According to Naidoo, infectious diseases that spread through contact and/or the faecal-oral route can also be prevented and outbreaks controlled in the hospital setting through proper infection control which relies on a steady clean water supply.
“Such infections include cholera, salmonella and shigella dysentery,” says Naidoo.
Meanwhile, Ralushai says they are working on a long-term plan to address water shortages at Elim Hospital.
“Though we have water tankers supplying the hospital with water at the moment, we have a long-term plan which is to supply the hospital with water from Nandoni Dam and we have already started with the planning process,” says Ralushai.
*Names have been changed.
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