Dirty hospital blamed on management staff

Cleaners at the Katutura State Hospital have blamed the messy state of affairs at the hospital on the hospital management under medical superintendent Dr Nelago Amagulu. Cleaning and general staff claim that when Amagulu took over the reins in 2011 - first in an acting position before she was permanently appointed - there were expectations that she could turn the situation around for the better. However, they say four years down the line the situation at the hospital seems to have become worse while the media are inundated with complaints from the public over the filthy hospital. Amagulu is accused of chaotic planning and management of the hospital, putting patient care at risk. Cleaners say since her appointment, she has decided to do acquisition of cleaning materials herself instead of leaving it to the administration department. They claim that there are no cleaning materials or equipment, and that toilets used by patients and visitors are not supplied with toilet paper. Cleaner Esther Hainyanyu said when cleaning materials and equipment are ordered, they are of very low quality. “Since that lady (Amagulu) came things have gone downhill at this hospital when there should have been improvements. We do not even have brushes to clean inside the toilet pots. We use gloves and our hands. It is disgusting. Patients wipe themselves on the walls. What is that?” Hainyanu said. The cleaners say when they asked why they cannot claim overtime payment, Amagulu allegedly rudely responded that they do not deserve overtime pay because they are uneducated. Rubbish heaps in corners They say they have stopped working overtime because Amagulu refuses to approve payment. The hospital has over 150 full-time cleaners on the Ministry of Health and Social Services’ payroll. While most work dayshifts, three cleaners are usually on the evening shift. “If you go around the hospital you find bags of rubbish stacked in corners. If you go to the paediatric ward, it is filled to capacity. Children’s beds are pushed into the corridors close to the reception area. Nurses are not helpful when you want to enquire about something,” said a member of the public who visited a relative in hospital. Another claimed that renovations in the hospital stopped midway and are substandard. Another observation was that elevators often don’t work, which means staff have to carry patients up and down stairs on stretchers. “That hospital is in a sad state of affairs. Maybe no one cares because the majority of people going there are poor and cannot afford up-to-standard medical care at other health facilities,” said Hainyanyu. In many places the ceilings are sagging. The cleaners claim that there was an attempt to repair them, but that the job has been abandoned. The major clean-ups that used to take place in June and December no longer take place, sources revealed. “This place is dirty. Those of us who work here are aware of that; we are human beings too. There are many factors to it, however,” said a staff member who prefers anonymity. She said the hospital is usually overcrowded and there seems to be no control over who walks in and out. Visitors enter at all hours. “The removal of overtime for cleaners plays a major role. Cleaning staff should be able to clean the hospital thoroughly in the evenings when it is calmer, but now they will not clean because they are not being paid for overtime,” she added. Magret Bennet of Pukumani Trust, which was established to support the hospital management by painting and renovating wards, said they had to stop their hospital project during Dr Reinhdardt Gariseb’s tenure. No maintenance plan According to Bennet, Gariseb informed them that the Ministry of Works had given the hospital enough money to do its own renovations. “There is just no quick solution to that hospital because there is no maintenance plan in place. The attitude of the staff and patients also contributes to the hospital being filthy and broken down. “You find that items will break and they will just be put away and not be fixed. We had put up curtains there from our own budget during our first project, but in some instances patients took them home when they left,” she said. “The attitude is that the government has money and should replace items. I remember once in the children’s ward the children had spilled food on the floor and we asked the cleaners to clean it up. The response, however, was that they had already cleaned in the morning and would only clean again the next day. “The mops and brooms are broken. Those we took there were stolen. The cleaning materials such as soaps are diluted with water and that is not effective. We need to educate our people to change,” said Bennet. Amagulu refused to comment on questions sent to her. The permanent secretary of the health ministry, Andrew Ndishishi, was unavailable for comment. The Katutura State Hospital is the country’s only general referral hospital. When Namibian Sun visited the hospital at 09:00, some cleaning staff were spotted lying around on the lawn. KAKUNAWE SHINANA