Prince Mshiyeni without water

Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital has been without water the past week. Image: KZN Health Department

Water shortage at Prince Mshiyeni hospital for a week [video]

Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs offered to give two water tankers to fill the hospital’s main water reservoir.

Prince Mshiyeni without water

Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital has been without water the past week. Image: KZN Health Department

The Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal is set to help the Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital which hasn’t had water since last Thursday. 

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SPOKESPERSON WEIGHS IN

According to the provincial health department, 898 patients were admitted at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital as of Tuesday.

The department’s spokesperson, Mdu Ncalane says they have supplied patients and staff with five litres of bottled water. He says the hospital’s reservoirs are being filled every day by tankers. 

Ncalane added that thirty JoJo tanks are currently being installed in strategic positions around the hospital.

“A tanker from the eThekwini Municipality is stationed full-time in the hospital and providing water. Thirty mobile toilets have been hired and are being used to support sanitation services.” 

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DA INTERVENTION LED TO TANKERS INSTALLATION

DA councillor Andre Beetge, said that the ANC-led municipality failed to send water tankers to the hospital at the weekend.

According to Beetge it was the DA’s intervention that led to the thirty tankers being installed at the hospital.

The IFP’s Mdu Nkosi says it is shameful that eThekwini is caught lacking in service delivery despite the billions it oversees.

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CAUSE OF WATER SHORTAGE

It was reported that Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital, in uMlazi had been hit by a water outage caused by a burst 300mm diameter pipe on the South Coast Bridge over the Umlaas Canal.

A hostel, the shopping centre uMlazi Mega City, and residents were affected. 

eThekwini Municipality says its engineers have been working to trace the burst pipe which is in a bridge on Griffiths Mxenge Highway. 

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HEALTH WORKERS SPEAK OUT ON WATER SHORTAGE