Chronicle Editor
Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter
MPILO Central Hospital in Bulawayo has gone for three days with no electricity as reports say the hospital has also run out of diesel to run generators for alternative power.
Officials at one of the country’s largest referral hospitals said without power, the hospital cannot access water and operations will come to a standstill.
They confirmed that they had been relying on generators since Sunday when the blackout occurred.
Mr Leonard Mabandi, the chief executive officer said the institution was managing the situation.
“I can confirm that we experienced a natural phenomenon where roots from one our trees interfered with our cables. We have been using generators since and I am yet to be informed that we have run out of fuel,” said Mr Mabandi.
“Everything is under control so far and we hope the situation will be fixed as soon as possible.”
His clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said, “The blackout did not lead to any unnecessary loss of lives as stand-by generators helped.”
An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the situation was affecting the hospital’s water supply.
“We have not had power from Sunday and it’s affecting a lot of things in the hospital. Some of our patients at our maternity ward had to be transferred to United Bulawayo Hospitals in case of emergencies,” she said.
“Some of the generators have run out of fuel and it has affected our water supply. Hospital management has ensured that they dig up the roots which caused the fault and we hope they fix the problem before the situation gets out control. The truth is this is becoming a crisis and we may need outside assistance to keep the hospital running.”
Zesa Western Region manager Mr Lovemore Chinaka said the fault was internal hence his company could not comment. “According to us, Mpilo is connected to power and the problem they are currently facing has to do with their internal networking which prevents the building from accessing the power. That’s all we know and since it’s something internal, we are not in a position to comment,” said Mr Chinaka.
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