09 Sep 2018

The Letsholathebe Memorial Hospital, Superintendent Dr Maxwell Mungisi has pleaded with the Minister of Health and Wellness to address a serious shortage of midwives at the hospital.

Briefing the Minister, Dr Alfred Madigele and other delegates during the tour of the facilities recently, Dr Mungisi said the hospital was experiencing a dire shortage yet it delivered between  four to 10 babies  a day.

He also advised that the maternity ward needed to have its separate staff from the labour, Ante Natal Care and Post Natal Care wards as they currently shared staff members.

Dr Mungisi expressed hope that the Moeti Clinic which had a maternity ward would help ease decongestion at Letsholathebe since its road infrastructure had been improved, a challenge that many patients complained about in the past.

He said the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) required uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to ensure consistent power in the unit.

He noted that the ICU facility had a deformity of a dirty room opening into it which was not supposed to be there for infection control.

Dr Mungisi also cited the leaking roof during the rainy season which he said could only be solved by an additional roof since overhauling the current roofing had been ruled out due to technical issues.

Commenting on some issues raised, Minister Madigele advised that the hospital management should map a decongesting strategy to make use of other maternity facilities such as  Moeti Clinic concerning the shortage of midwives.

In an interview, the ministry  Permanent Secretary Ms Ruth Maphorisa observed that the situation was under review to find a suitable solution since the roof had some machinery on top which meant it could not be overhauled.

She said the same challenge was experienced at Sekgoma Memorial Hospital.

Ms Maphorisa added that the solution opted for would also be determined by the availability of funds. ENDS