Hospital staff use bare hands to wash infectious linen…laundry machine down since 2017

Machinery in the laundry room at Ndanga District Hospital has been down for the past more than two years, and staff at the health institution are using bare hands to wash even infectious linen.

The dire state of affairs at the hospital was revealed during a tour of the hospital by a team led by the deputy chief of mission at the United States embassy in Harare, Thomas Hastings.

The United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), through the Centre for Diseases Control (CDC), is funding the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) program at Ndanga District and St Anthony’s Musiso Mission Hospital in the district.

After being taken through the facilities and processes involved in VMMC work, the team was further taken through other ancillary facilities of the hospital so that they could get a better appreciation of the hospital’s operations.

Zaka District Medical Officer (DMO) Dr Morgen Muzondo took the team through many critical areas of the hospital including the storage room for sterilized equipment and the hospital laundry.

The sterilized room’s roof is a near-ramshackle, with ceiling boards chipping off and the whole trussing system threatened by an infestation of termites that are gnawing away into its joints.

“As you can see, much of the ceiling has been damaged and we fear the roof might curve in due to termites. We try as much as possible under the circumstances to maintain high levels of safety and hygiene in all our facilities but serious challenges remain,” said Muzondo.

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