By Theodorah Waga Mawasha
KGAPANE – Anxiety and desperation were written all over the face of some patients at Kgapane Hospital yesterday as they were explaining that they had not taken a bath for four days.
They said many patients had been forced to buy water from a local shopping centre just to quench their thirst.
Those who could not afford to buy bottled water begged to take sips from patients who shared wards with them.
The Greater Letaba based health facility experienced severe water outages for over a week.
The dry taps in the medical facility have left patients dehydrated and unhappy with the health facility.
Another patient who is admitted to the maternity ward of the hospital on Friday, May 20, who opted to speak to Tzaneen voice anonymously, said that there is an unpleasant odour in the ward making it difficult to stomach food.
“I can’t eat because of the smell and I am breastfeeding. We have tried to talk to the nurses about the issue but they are giving us a cold shoulder. We are being taken for granted because the service in public hospitals is free”, the new mother vented.
Greater Letaba Municipality media liaison officer Lovers Maenetje told this publication that water crisis is in the hands of the Mopani District Municipality
“I know Lepelle Water is in talks with the Hospital but I don’t have much information, it’s a district matter” she said
Meanwhile Limpopo Department of Health through Kgapane hospital’s communications officer Ivy Modiba did not give us comments when contacted.
