MALE student nurses housed in a hostel at the Onandjokwe State Hospital at Oniipa near Ondangwa do not only live in overcrowded rooms with broken windows, but have to endure a mosquito infestation in summer, and brave the cold in winter because of the run-down state of the facility.
Their troubles do not end there, though, for they also have to endure a pungent stench coming from the sagging ceiling, where bats have made a nest.
A student told The Namibian on Tuesday that the hostel building in its current state was not fit for human habitation.
“This is total disrespect to us. How can we get accommodated in such a building? Even you can see that this is not fit for people,” the unhappy student said while pointing to the falling ceiling.
The student stated that apart from the stench, most windows of the five-room building were broken, and they had to patch them with panels of cardboard boxes or plastic garbage bags.
He added that the toilets were also in a state of dysfunction. During The Namibian’s visit, the strong sewage stink wafted from the broken toilets.
“Why did they decide to renovate the casualty ward, while ignoring where the people working in the casualty ward stay?”, he asked, adding that although only four people were meant to share a room, they now sleep six to eight in a room.
Another student complained that the condition of the building has attracted rodents, such as mice and rats, which in turn are hunted by the many cats on the hospital grounds.
“You cannot leave your bread here. You won’t find it, as mice and rats are in abudance,” he stressed. The students also complained about the hospital grounds, pointing to the long grass growing everywhere, and puddles that have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
I do not know why Onandjokwe has so much grass.Why can’t they employ people from outside on a temporary basis to clean the hospital [grounds]?”, he asked.
A dentist at the hospital blamed the hospital’s management for the unkempt condition of hospital facilities and grounds.
“Do we really say we are promoting health? People come here to get treated and encouraged to live in hygienic environments, and yet we ourselves are living like this.
They should do something,” he said, adding that sometimes bags of medical waste are heaped in the open, and then dogs from surrounding areas come along and rip them open, scattering rubbish on the hospital grounds.
“Go pass behind the laundry; the rubbish might still be there,” he stated.
Dr Igor Petrov, the Onandjokwe superintendent, told The Namibian yesterday that since government took over the hospital from the Lutheran church in July last year, the hospital’s management has been planning to renovate or upgrade infrastructure at the hospital.
“We and the [Oshikoto health] director, [Petrus] Hangala, even met recently to map the way forward. Of course, changes cannot happen fast, but things will come right, including the hostels.
“So far, we have renovated the casualty [ward], the OPD and the paedriatric ward,” he noted.
Petrov referred The Namibian to Hangala, whose phone went unanswered.
Onandjokwe was established in 1909 by Finnish missionaries, and government took over the running of the hospital and its assets last year.
