Water shortages hit city hospital – again

DOCTORS and nurses who live at the seven-storey medical residence at Windhoek Central Hospital were left without water “for the umpteenth time” this weekend.

An irate doctor who contacted The Namibian said affected medical personnel “have had it”. “We are expected to be on duty 24 hours a day to provide services but they can’t even provide us with a basic service,” one doctor fumed.The doctor, who did not want to be named, said the residence was “regularly” left without water.However, he said, their complaints fell on deaf ears time and again.This weekend their attempts to contact two of the supervising officials proved futile.Their cellphones were reportedly both switched off for the weekend.The Namibian also had no luck when it tried to reach the two officials.The water supply cut off at around 08h00 on Saturday.Early yesterday afternoon it was still not running.On Saturday, doctors managed to get hold of a plumber who was on call.The plumber reported that the problem this weekend started when a pipe burst in Dorado Park.Even though this was fixed, the water supply problem was not resolved.It is believed there might be an underground leak.Last weekend, mothers and their newborn babies at the Windhoek Central Hospital’s maternity wards were without water for most of Sunday after pipes burst.An emergency meeting was called on Monday morning to discuss water outages.”They will not be without water any longer.We worked on it,” Hospital Superintentendent Dr Jack Vries said on Monday.”We are expected to be on duty 24 hours a day to provide services but they can’t even provide us with a basic service,” one doctor fumed.The doctor, who did not want to be named, said the residence was “regularly” left without water.However, he said, their complaints fell on deaf ears time and again.This weekend their attempts to contact two of the supervising officials proved futile.Their cellphones were reportedly both switched off for the weekend.The Namibian also had no luck when it tried to reach the two officials.The water supply cut off at around 08h00 on Saturday.Early yesterday afternoon it was still not running.On Saturday, doctors managed to get hold of a plumber who was on call.The plumber reported that the problem this weekend started when a pipe burst in Dorado Park.Even though this was fixed, the water supply problem was not resolved.It is believed there might be an underground leak.Last weekend, mothers and their newborn babies at the Windhoek Central Hospital’s maternity wards were without water for most of Sunday after pipes burst.An emergency meeting was called on Monday morning to discuss water outages.”They will not be without water any longer.We worked on it,” Hospital Superintentendent Dr Jack Vries said on Monday.