Rédaction Africa Links 24 with lexpress
Published on 2024-03-02 02:40:00
The Jirama tanker truck makes three to four round trips per day to supply the hospital
The Soavinandriana Hospital Center (Cenhosoa) is running out of water. The concern is doubled for the patients. Water is life. It is a vital need for the sick and also for the healthcare personnel who take care of them. If patients already suffer from their illnesses, these may worsen. The lack of water is noticed by these patients as soon as they enter the hospital. Therefore, patients should arm themselves with strength and patience to ensure they maintain good health until they are discharged. The consequences are strongly felt by the patients and their families. Several departments of this hospital have been without water for nearly four days. The maternity and gynecology service as well as pediatrics are particularly affected. Even the toilets and showers are without water.
“Our patient had to wait a long time for her shower. We waited for water for two hours this morning. While she just gave birth and needs to wash regularly,” explains Manohisoa, using a pseudonym, while carrying some bottles of water to refill. His daughter-in-law gave birth yesterday, and obviously, she needs a lot of water for her cleanliness. This is very important for the health of the mother and the child. These patients wait a long time every day to get water. According to some, the water flows, but very little at 2 in the morning, and it is still insufficient. “We fill some bottles when the water comes back at that time, but we risk waking up the sleeping patients and not getting much,” explains this mother. Almost all the patients in the hospital suffer from it, as they really have to pay a lot of attention to hygiene.
In the maternity section, hygiene is very important for the baby’s health. The wait for clean water is also among the problems. The purchased water should be boiled. And it takes a long time.
Alternatives
The hospital has already put in place a solution to solve this major problem. A Jirama water tanker truck makes round trips to supply the hospital with water. The families of the patients wait for its arrival to take some buckets of water. During our visit, the showers were replenished with water from yellow jerry cans from the truck.
Families of the sick, on the other hand, get water in bottles from public water fountains. “It’s very tiring. Why does a hospital make us live this ordeal? We are already tired of the poor sleep at night with our sick loved ones, we are still made to suffer by being asked to collect water downstairs while we are on the fifth floor,” exclaims another man, a family member of a hospitalized child. The problem has been going on for several days, sustainable solutions are hoped for by these families who will have to stay there for more days.
Read the original article(French) on lexpress.mg
