Patients still dining with mice at Katutura hospital

Henriette Lamprecht

Windhoek

Patients in Ward B on the fourth floor of Katutura State Hospital in Windhoek have to share everything - from their food to their bed sheets - with a population of mice that regularly scurry back and forth across their floors.

A woman, admitted for a dislocated hip, recently shared a video that shows that when the cat’s away, the mice will definitely play.

The former patient, who chose to remain anonymous, was in traction after her hip was pushed back into place and was reliant on staff and fellow patients to help her.

“You lie ‘paralysed’ on your bed and the mice are all over your body. You can’t leave fruit or leftover food outside, because then it’s Christmas for the mice,” she said.

According to the woman, who was immobile for some time, a basin of water - which she had to use to wash herself - was simply placed on a chair next to her bed or on her bedside table.

“I couldn’t really move and had to call the staff. They then told me not to wear underwear and that was the only way they could help me!”

‘You’ll starve to death’

She further described the food patients receive as “horrible”.

“It’s bland and tasteless, no salt or spices. If your family doesn’t bring you food, you will starve to death.”

The meals are also apparently simply placed on a chair next to patients’ beds, out of reach of those who are not mobile, who are then forced to go without sustenance.

Meanwhile, she said men and women share the same toilet, narrating that a prisoner walked around the ward freely during her stay in the hospital.

“At one stage, he came to our ward to ask for hot water. I caught him staring at me through the toilet door. The doors can’t close, so for our own safety, we had to go to the bathroom in pairs at night.”

‘No service’

The woman was meant to be discharged on Thursday morning, but had to spend another night in hospital because the crutches and medication she was supposed to receive would only be available the next day.

“I had to get two pain pills from a female patient next to me and she also had to help me get by with her crutches. Their excuse was that the place that supplies it [the crutches] was apparently already closed in the afternoon and they had to wait until it opened again.”

She said the crutches were finally delivered to her in the room the next day, but she received no instructions or guidance on how to use them.

“What’s going on there is just terrible. They [staff members] don’t care about a thing and if you ask a question, they mumble some sort of answer at you. There is no service,” she fumed.

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