Services halt as hospital staff fall ill

and other members of staff at the institution were affected by diarrhoea.
Hospital officials suspect that the diarrhoea could have been caused by contaminated borehole water, which is used for drinking and other purposes at the institution.
Gweru Provincial Hospital, the Midlands province’s major referral is relying on borehole water after the Gweru City Council recently cut off water supply at the institution over an undisclosed outstanding water bill.
Hospital officials who spoke to the Chronicle at the weekend said normal services had to be halted last Friday as the majority of nurses among other members of staff went down with diarrhoea.
“There was a diarrhoea outbreak at the hospital on Friday, which affected most of the staff especially the nurses.
“Normal business was halted as most nurses and other members of the staff sought treatment as a result of the problem,” said the official.
The official said hospital authorities had to hire the services of some council officials from the health department to conduct the investigations into the case.
“Health personnel from the city council’s health department had to be called in to come and assist at the hospital following the development.
“The council officials went further to investigate and preliminary investigations suggest that the borehole water could be the cause of the diarrhoea,” said the official.
The official said council officials recently moved in and cut off water supplies at the institution over unpaid bills.
“The whole institution is using borehole water after the council recently cut off water supplies owing to the non-payment of water bills,” said the official.
Gweru Provincial Hospital acting medical director Dr Fungai Makwarimba yesterday confirmed the development at the hospital.
Dr Makwarimba also confirmed that the institution was using borehole water after Gweru City Council disconnected water from the institution.
He, however, said investigations into the causes of the diarrhoea problem were going on.
“We have engaged our officials as well as a team from Gweru City Council’s health department to ascertain the causes of the problem and we cannot at the moment confirm that borehole water is the cause of the problem,” he said.
Dr Makwarimba said it was, however, doubtful that the diarrhoea problem at the institution could be as a result of borehole water.
“As the hospital, we have been using the borehole water since 2008 when the hospital was experiencing erratic water supplies and we haven’t encountered such a problem.
“It then becomes more questionable given that we are now using electric pumps to draw water from the borehole as opposed to the manual system as was the case.
“It becomes a mystery that this water could be the major cause of the diarrhoea when it is even now being pumped by electricity,” he said.
Dr Makwarimba said they were expecting the outcome of the causes of the diarrhoea any time this week.
“The borehole water has been taken for some tests and we are expecting the results this week,” he said.