Beira Central Hospital: Where almost everything is lacking

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Beira Central Hospital: Where almost everything is lacking

6:10 CAT | 31 Oct 2017

TVM / Beira Central Hospital, in the centre of the country, is facing difficulty feeding its more than 700 patients because of budget constraints and the economic situation. Three weeks ago, it reported that it had run out of surgical of gloves and other materials

Beira Central Hospital (HCB), the largest and oldest health unit in the centre of the country, is going through the most difficult times in its existence, with almost everything lacking in its day to day running, including food for patients, gloves for medical personnel and other materials considered essential for patient care.

Visiting the hospital last week, our reporter talked to health workers, service personnel and patients who were alarmed by the situation in the last few days.

The HCB has 600 beds, but demand for services has increased the number of patients to around 1,020, exacerbating difficulties.

For some years now, the HCB has been facing profound shortages, and nurses feel their hands are tied in the face of the chaos generated by lack of basic products at the regional hospital unit.

The list of consumables that have been missing for the last three weeks is extensive, and includes gloves, catheters, bedpans, scalpels and even bandages. Given the lack of minimum working conditions, many doctors are cancelling scheduled operations.

Some trainees and nurses are even purchasing gloves with their own money.

One surgeon, speak anonymously, said that the lack of medical and surgical material has caused a suspension of activities. “Almost everything is missing. Conditions to serve the patient well do not exist. We cannot go on like this. Sometimes we have to improvise,” he complained.

The HCB emergency and paediatrics departments see at least 400 patients per day, but growing demand and the lack of clear health policies have caused overcrowding, and the scarcity of financial resources constrains proper functioning.

Figures indicate that the last transfer of resources by the government was about 600,000 meticais, but this is only enough to cover the food expenses for seven days. Each month, the HCB spends about two million meticais on food for patients, a figure the hospital management says it does not have.

Since then, Beira Central Hospital has been turning to suppliers and even accepting supplies donated by other institutions such as the Sofala Provincial Directorate of Gender Child, Women and Social Action.

On Friday, for example, the Academic Zone of the Frelimo party in Beira donated several products, including rice, in response to the HCB’s food needs.

The lack of basic materials not only affects the HCB, but also other public hospitals, especially in Beira. Products such as gloves, bandages and some medicines are among the those lacking in the main health units.

This problem is also frequent in the Ponta-Gêa Health Centre. “Even here, sometimes we feel bad. The deficiencies affect everyone,” an interviewee said.

But one HCB nurse said that the surgical material crisis was mostly over.

“We have had situations here so serious that we even stopped surgeries for lack of gloves and other equipment, but the issues considered most urgent were met and the situation has improved,” she said.