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Sindisiwe Sibanda/Thobekile Khumalo, Sunday News Reporters
PLUMTREE District Hospital in Matabeleland South is facing a dire situation as the institution has gone for about a month without electricity, complicating service delivery and patients lives.
In an interview, Matabeleland South Provincial Medical Director Dr Rudo Chikodzore said the problem started when power cables were stolen and have since not been replaced.
“I have been receiving reports that there is no electricity at Plumtree Hospital that resulted from the theft of copper cables. We have since reported the case to Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) and we are waiting for them to take action” said Dr Chikodzore.
Plumtree District Medical Officer Dr Langalokusa Sibanda said the hospital has been out of power since the beginning of the month.
“The hospital has had no electricity since 9 August due to vandalism and we have been surviving by a backup generator that is expensive to run and we only use it in case of emergencies. This issue has been a great challenge to the hospital because we are now using firewood to cook for patients,” said Dr Sibanda.
He added that the hospital was no longer eligible to attend to critical conditions.
Zesa southern region manager Engineer Lovemore Chinaka said the problem was not only associated with cables but a substation linked to the institution was down. —@thobekilekae/ @macindie 1
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