Nyamira County Referral Hospital has for the last three weeks been facing acute water shortage putting the patients at risk of contracting several diseases related to the commodity’s scarcity.
Patients have had a rough time getting water in the facility which has forced their caretakers to either buy from vendors or come with their own water from homes.
At the hospital’s main entrance, people can be seen walking into the hospital carrying water to their patients.
The hospital’s medical superintendent, Sam Ombati, said the water shortage has greatly affected service delivery at the facility though they had sought other options.
“We accept there is water shortage in Nyamira and our hospital is affected but I want to assure our clients that we have improvised mechanisms to ensure that is sufficient flow of water in the facility by installing water tanks to harvest rain water,” he said.
He noted that the electricity at the water supply had been disconnected due to accumulated bills yet to be cleared by the department of water headed by Samuel Maiko.
“We hope that the relevant department settles the bills in time so as we can have a continuous flow of water in the facility,” he added.
Ombati also said that the department of health and sanitation was working round the clock to ensure that the welfare of the patients was maintained.
He disputed claims that the hospital was dirty and inhabitable.
“Our policy is that sanitation is paramount and whoever found not doing hi/her job, necessary action is then taken immediately. We received a concern that our toilets had blocked and we immediately corrected the mess and we are ensuring that the sanitation within the hospital is kept to its standards,” he added.
By the time of going to press, the Executive Committee Member for Water, Environment and Natural Resources – Maiko, was not available for a comment over the water crisis as our calls and texts were unanswered.
The ECM for Health Services, Douglas Bosire, said in a text message that he was not aware of the situation at the hospital but promised to address the challenge in time.
