Over 300 Mpilo Hospital Patients At Risk As Anaesthetic Machines Breakdown
Over 300 patients who require surgery risk developing life threatening complications following breakdown of anaesthetic machines at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo.
Mpilo Central Hospital is now being forced to put patients requiring surgery on a waiting list. The Chronicle reports the hospital is operating with only four anaesthetic machines out of 10. An anaesthetic or anaesthesia machine is a gas medical equipment used for inhalation anesthesia, including flowmeters, vaporizers, and sources of compressed gases, but not including the anesthetic circuit or mechanisms for elimination of carbon dioxide.
An anaesthetic or anaesthesia machine is a gas medical device used to generate and mix a fresh gas flow of medical gases and inhalational anaesthetic agents for purposes of inducing and maintaining anaesthesia.
In an interview with the Chronicle, Mpilo clinical director, Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said the hospital was in dire need of the machines in order to carry out operations in time. Said Ngwenya:
We need anaesthetic machines, there are only four. The other three broke down and we cannot get spare parts because they need forex and these are specialised machines. So, people coming here that require surgery in our out-patients department are being told to wait. There is a long waiting list so the figures are piling up and people are being told to wait three months to six months and some to next year, for operations.
He said there were about 300 people awaiting surgery.
More: Chronicle
