Maphisa hospital: A story of desperation

DEATH touches us all, and the manner in which the deceased are treated matters, despite their lifelessness.

Imagine fetching the body of your deceased relative from a mortuary not working, probably the body would have started to decompose due to the soaring day time temperatures. Unfathomable.

This is the heart throbbing situation at Maphisa District Hospital in Matobo District, Matabeleland South, where the mortuary has not been functioning for five months. The hospital is among many facilities that have gone for five months without electricity after cables were stolen in the area.

Matabeleland South acting Provincial Medical Director Dr Tatenda Nhapi said the situation has affected service delivery at the institution.

“Maphisa Hospital has been operating without power supplies from Zesa since September last year. The electricity supply authorities report that they are in the process of replacing the copper lines with aluminium,” she said.

Dr Nhapi said although the hospital had a generator, it did not have money to buy fuel needed to power it for 24 hours a day.

A resident of Maphisa, Mr Qhubekile Ndlovu said it was a nightmare to be admitted to the hospital.

“We have not had electricity for a long time, first they said they would attend to the stolen cables but this has not happened.

Food for the patients is now being cooked in the open. When one is admitted you need to come with candles or torches because there is no electricity and one cannot see when it is dark.

“If someone dies that is where the problem is because there is no generator to power the mortuary so one is informed to come and collect the body of their relative as soon as possible for burial,” he said.

Mr Ndlovu added that there was a time when fluids could be seen oozing from dead bodies in the mortuary while maggots were also seen.

“Now, if one dies you have to take the body to a private funeral home, they are better equipped to handle the situation as they have alternative power supply.

“They have solar systems and generators. One does not need to have been a member of the funeral home but they give you an alternative. They charge between R200 and R400 per day depending on the situation and services,” said Mr Ndlovu.

The acting PMD, however, dismissed allegations that corpses were being kept in the wards.

“The hospital has on average 12 institutional deaths monthly. Whenever there is a death, the doctors fill in the paper work that is required to process the burial orders as a matter of urgency.

“Bodies are never kept in the wards, they are always temporarily put in the mortuary awaiting collection by relatives.

“The community is aware of the challenges of Zesa at the hospital and the district as a whole and when they are informed of the death of a relative, they respond quickly. The hospital is yet to have cases where there are delays in collection,” she said.

Residents of Maphisa said they were pleading with the Government to assist.

“We have a cocktail of challenges now, the roads are bad, the mortuary is closed, businesses are not functioning because of the electricity crisis.

“If the hospital had generators that could power the mortuary and the rest of the institution then it would have been better,” said Mr Ndlovu.

Dr Nhapi said the hospital has come with contingency plans to protect key services.

“Cold chain maintenance of vaccines and medicines requiring the maintenance of cold chain — these are now being kept at Kezi Rural Health Centre which is equipped with a solar system. Anticipated stocks for the day are collected from the rural health centre,” she said.

The distance between Kezi Rural Health Centre and Maphisa District Hospital is about 19km.

Zesa southern region manager Engineer Lovemore Chinaka said the company was working towards restoration of power in the affected areas and was awaiting deliveries of consumables.

“The feeder was stolen and we are yet to replace it. We are expecting a conductor to come, we still are procuring some equipment.

“Vandalism on these lines is bad. It’s as good as we are starting afresh in rebuilding these vandalised lines in the affected areas. That is the extent that this vandalism has gone. So as soon as we receive the requisite materials, we will repair the lines,” said Eng Chinaka.