The health crisis in the country continues to worsen as the country’s major hospital now attends to only 50 patients a day, a concerning decline to the average intake of over 200 patients per day.
This development has seen hundreds of patients flocking the referral hospital being turned away, adding to the already concerning situation at the hospital.
According to the Ministry’s first quarter report, Mbabane Government had the highest volume facility with 79 964 annual OPD visits. This translates to about 220 people attended per day on average.
Some patients found queuing in the hospital’s Outpatient Department (OPD) said they were shocked to learn that the hospital had now reduced the number of patients attended to per day. They claimed that they arrived as early as 6am so as to secure a spot for the day, only for some to be turned back.
“I was informed that I should make sure that I arrive on time so that I will be among the 50 patients that are attended to daily,” said one of the patients.
Another patient, Melusi Dlamini shared his frustration about the situation, stating that his mother was turned away after arriving at the hospital at around 9am.
“We were told that the daily patient limit had already been reached and were told to go to Mankayane for assistance. As a result she ended up not getting any assistance and had to go home,” he said.
Similarly, Sihle Dlamini, another patient in the queue shared that she arrived at the hospital at 6am in a bid to increase her chances of being attended to and was lucky enough to make the cut.
At approximately 9am yesterday a security officer, who was assisting patients in the OPD confirmed the reports.
“The 50 tickets have already been taken. I issued the last ticket just a few minutes ago,” the officer said.
Mbabane Government Hospital Chairperson Musa Shongwe claimed that he had not been informed about any significant changes in patient admissions.
“We have not been notified of any change. The last time I checked, they mentioned that they were working on a policy document that would guide how the hospital operates, other than that, I know nothing about any implemented change,” he said.
Meanwhile Communications Officer in the Ministry of Health Nsindiso Tsabedze clarified that the hospital had requested a reduction in patient numbers, but the ministry did not approve such.
“They raised the usual concerns about the need to scale-down, citing drugs shortage, but nothing significant changed. The ministry is not aware of any issues related to a limited number of patients being seen daily,” Tsabedze explained.
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