TOILETS AT MATERO LEVEL 1 HOSPITAL
By Miles Sampa
I am still traumatized from the torture my eyes and nostrils experienced on Good Friday when I visited the male and female toilets at the Matero level 1 hospital. Not only were they non functional, but filthy with human excretes all over the pans, walls and floor. Involuntary fasting from that point on.
I cant imagine sick people forced to use those extremely dirty and blocked urinary and sitting toilets.
The hospital surely has some people paid public funds to clean those toilets. More so and away from known medical challenges, someone has a manageral title to oversee the facilities and structures at the hospital.
My experience with public works and facilities is that it’s not what has to be done that matters but the how. As a nation we still worship archaic processes or red tape. I can imagine that someone at the hospital has put in a requisition for plumbing or cleaning materials and the paper work is still undergoing the bureaucracy stages. Meantime patients have to continue re-using blocked toilets.
Lopsided historical systems happens to be my fear on the CDF aswell. No matter how good the Local Government Minister is, the processes and systems that have no sense of urgency when need be, are likely to jeopardise the much applauded new CDF allocations. Equally and No matter how good the Health Minister maybe, public facilities systems are ancient and just near imposible to get work done or achieve efficiency.
The other and major drawback to efficiency in public facilities is the callous work culture by some civil servants and council workers where I was forced to DIY (Do It Yourself) especially in the picking up of garbage out of the streets. It was meant to encourage everyone to get involved beyond their desk jobs but I ended up doing it alone.
Currently as MP whose role is to speak for residents and make national laws, maybe I now need to find gloves for my DIY (or is it Do It Myself-DIM) and personally go unblock or clean the Matero Level 1 toilets. Cleaners may be on holiday but hospital toilets and patients know not it’s a holiday. Looking for volunteers to tag along.
The view of human excretes all over has nightmares on me since.
MBS18.04.2022, 3am