Hospital laundry allegedly not collected for six months
TSIMANYANE – Patients and workers at Matlala District Hospital in Tsimanyane Village outside Marble Hall have expressed concerns over allegedly unattended laundry piles at the hospital including clothes and bedding.
According to insiders, the unattended laundry has been piling up for the past six months at the hospital after the contractor’s trucks were broken.
This led to concerns that the hospital’s management seemed to have accepted what was deemed to be the laziest excuse to justify looting of state resources.
Sekhukhune Residents Forum (SRF) condemned that the contractor allegedly continued to be paid despite doing no work and that the management of the hospital seemed okay about that.
It is alleged that patients at the hospital were forced to request members of their families to bring them bed-lining, clothes and blankets following the non-availability of laundry services there after the contractors trucks got broken.
SRF said it escalated the matter to the district directorate and the head of department of health but nothing had been done.
The forum lambasted the district directorate and the head of department for turning a blind eye on the crisis at the hospital even though they were made aware.
It further called for the residents in surrounding villages to the hospital to demand accountability from the management of the hospital.
Makalakatse Phasha, SRF Chairperson, said the situation at Matlala hospital was touching and proved that lack of care about people.
Phasha said they were extremely disappointed that the district directorate and the head of department of health failed to act on the crisis despite having been informed.
He said there were a lot of problems involving Matlala, Dilokong, St Ritas and Philadelphia district hospitals that needed urgent attention.
“We are just being held back by the pandemic currently. We are planning serious picketing at these hospitals to register our concerns over their running. Patients and workers are subjected to appalling conditions at these facilities. The government must be called to action and fast,” said Phasha.
However, the Limpopo Department of Health has denied the allegations and said the service provider at Matlala Hospital collected laundry twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Neil Shikwambana, Limpopo Department of Health Spokesperson, said the service provider collected laundry on Tuesday last week in line with the contractual routine.
Shikwambana further said that, however, the service provider delayed to collect on Thursday and ended up collecting on Saturday.
“The pictures might have been taken between Thursday and Friday last week and the narration around them is exaggerated. The notion that is being peddled on social media that the service provider has not collected for 6 months is absolutely not true,” concluded Shikwambana.
