Nurses live in private wards

HLATIKHULU – Nurses at Hlatikhulu Government Hospital are accommodated in hospital wards.
They occupy all four private wards of the hospital.

As a result, people wishing to have their sick relatives accommodated in private wards are greatly inconvenienced as these are occupied by staff members.
They are told that the wards are out of reach.

To ascertain the situation, this reporter went undercover and pretended to be looking for a private ward to accommodate a sick relative. Nurses who were contacted made it clear that at present, it          was not possible for any patient to be accommodated in a private ward.
“The wards are presently accommodating staff members since there is construction currently going on around the hospital,” responded a nurse who will not be identified for ethical reasons.

The present arrangement began about four days ago and some of the people employed at the hospital are not pleased by the sudden turn of events.
It was established that the hospital, inclusive of staff houses, was undergoing renovations and this has called for certain staffers to seek alternative housing while their allocated houses were being renovated.
The staffers have moved, with their families, into the wards.

It is said music is often heard blaring from the direction of the wards-cum staff houses.
Mkhosi Khumalo, Hospital Administrator, who was responding from second-hand information related to him by staff at the hospital (since he is currently away on an educational course), confirmed that there was construction going on at the hospital.
He said the renovations were meant to improve the outlook and operations of the health institution.

Khumalo said this has been an ongoing project, which dated back to 2010.
“It is not only the hospital buildings which have been affected but even staff houses were being rehabilitated.
“Therefore, we had to find a plan to accommodate the affected staff in the meantime, while their houses were being renovated,” he said.
Khumalo said, of course, the status quo may affect certain operations of the hospital but everything was under control as the situation was being monitored very closely. 

He said the current arrangement would last for the entire duration of the exercise.
The administrator could not give a specific period, saying there were people on the ground, like the matrons in charge, who may be privy to such information.
Efforts to get a comment from one of the matrons proved futile yesterday because they were reported to be away on work related engagements.      

Meanwhile, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Stephen Shongwe, also confirmed the current arrangement at the hospital.
However, he said this was a temporary measure which was decided upon by management at the medical institution.
He said they were expecting the situation to persist for a period of about two weeks.

“It is true, there were renovations currently underway at the hospital and due to the fact that the construction also affects staff houses, management decided to accommodate the nurses in the private wards which are also in the plan for renovations.
“There was no other option while at the same time, the nurses had to be given alternative accommodation,” he said.

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