The University Teaching Hospital (UTH) has advised members of the public not to go in large numbers when taking sick relatives to the health institution.
UTH Executive Director, Lackson Kasanka says this is important considering that UTH is a highly infectious institution.
Dr. Kasanka said this in a statement read for him by UTH Acting Public Relations Manager Moses Luwaya.
He observed that the large number of relatives who have been escorting their sick relatives to the hospital have contributed to congestion at the institution.
Dr. Kasanka lamented that the institution has had financial constraints as a result of high bills which keep coming as a result of people accompanying sick relatives who are fond of abusing facilities such as electricity through unnecessary charging of phones among others.
He alleged that it is these people who take their sick relatives or friends to the University Teaching Hospital who are in turn perpetuators of crime.
And the UTH executive director has announced that the hospital management is to introduce cards for all bedsiders which will be one way to give identity to those who are accompanying the patients.
ZANIS
tHIS IS NOT NEWS FOR SURE
Good move. I wonder why this habbit has been tolerated for so long. Thats why these mobs end up manhandling UTH staff, especially nurses, whenever they feel that their patient is not been given their expected attention.
hahaha,kekeke, awe sure ati ‘ dont go in large numbers when escorting relatives to the hospital’ UTH management and the whole of ministry of health, your services are just pathetic. We have a lot of you health personnel who deviate medicine, money meant for patients drugs to your personal tuntembas, you even reduce your working hrs to get more money from private clinics and hospitals. Today you want to throw the blame on poor patients relatives. JUST IMPROVE BAPOMPWE!!!!
This can be countered by simple measures like hand sanitizers in the waiting areas and bathrooms.
Good move but try to stop the habit of relatives being nursing assistants by staying at bed side of patients to care for the sick because of shortage of nurses to carry out bedside nursing.This is also a way in which most of such people especially women have acquired hospital infections and puts patients at risk of infections because wards are crowded with relatives.
Bring back retention and recruitment allowance on our payslips otherwise u will never have a vote from all graduates civil servants in 2016. Take this warning very seriously bwana PF Government!
Also employ grade 9 failures as nurse’s aides, instead of having relatives handle bed pans.
uth is not in london but in zambia [africa] and you know what i mean
GOOD MOVE BA DOCTOR.PUT A BIG POSTER TO SHOW VISITING TIMES. IF POSSIBLE MOVE THE TAXIS OUT UTH. LET THEM DROP PATIENTS AND GO,YOU NEED ALOT OF CLEAR SPACE AT FACE OF THE INSTITUTION.
Nubian Princess, kindly use politically correct terms napapata! Grade nine failures sure? Grade nine level education would be more appropriate. It also makes you sound ignorant because I know you know that there are some individuals who did not fail but dropped out for various reasons. Having said that, I know you are far from ignorant because I read a lot of your comments. ~Justsaying~
@Nubian Princess, hand sanitizers won’t address infection control only. Keeping bathrooms stocked with soap and paper towels, and cleaning them often is necessary, too. Also, information about the proper use of hand sanitizers and proper hand washing techniques should be posted and be easy to understand (i.e. with pictures, not just words). Another important part of infection control is the use of respiratory masks. Cleaning your hands won’t prevent the spread of many airborne infectious diseases. But the hospital itself needs to have proper disease control procedures in place, such HVAC (although, there is some evidence that that may have some downsides), and cleaning. Sadly, families are often the most attentive caretakers to patients, and UTH needs to work with them.
Congestion is a problem, but UTH might find it easier if they educate patients and their families on avoiding infections and proper care techniques, especially for those who will be in the hospital long-term. It seems unlikely that they are going to be able to meet all of their staffing needs, and those families are patients’ advocates, so devoting some resources toward educating them would be a wise investment, in my opinion, although I hope the government or a donor can assist them in this regard.
A 200 litre drum of water in the toilets near the main entrance to wash hands and flush the toilet and UTH is more worried about who comes with family?
Fix the system first as it is broke.
Second decontaminate or disinfect the place regularly as it stinks of urine most days.
Thirdly make sure there is plenty of drugs and supplies on hand to treat patients instead of sending people to private clinics or pharmacies in town when the job should and can be done at UTH.
I wonder if Sata and his wife ever use the facilities?
UTH is a hell hole!!
There is a back ground to this advise to the public. About 10 members of staff working in UTH radiology have been sent home with active tuberculosis. The ventilation in both the mortuary and the radiology department has not been working for years. A major clean up exercise is currently underway, but this is just damage control.
Go there at your own risk. You have been warned. It is not because they do not want you to see your sick relatives, but TB is a notifiable disease and the public must be warned. In fact all hospitals are essentially no go areas for this same reason.
Thats correct, this is the only reason. The place is filthy and not fit to be called a hospital.
It is not up to UTH to educate people of hygiene.Health education and health promotion are the preserve of the mass media and community organisations and cannot be heaped on the already depressed medical or nursing staff.The issue was assistant nursing staff was once addressed and as back as 1997,we had them in the wards.Yet again,these will not resolve the issues of nosocomial infections that are rampant in Zambia.We cannot continue to have patients’ minders sleeping on floors in wards.Rather than have these,we should think of enrolling and employing more nursing and paying them living wages that will keep them in Zambia.
Ok,as an alternative,lets have a congestion of nurses at all health institutions…relatives do not go to UTH for fun but to nurse their beloved ones because of shortage of nurses..Who would want to patronise a chi dirty hospital like UTH anyway!!The few that are there will be busy watching TV and drinking coffee,sleeping while patients need their attention!!Just sort out the real issues with your Sata!!
Conditions make relatives stay by the bedside of the patient. If they are not there, who will give the patient food? Make sure they take their medicine? Have a bath? And one person can’t manage, so they come as a pack. Its only in certain privately owned hospitals where this is done by nurses. Its better to be a crowd than to have your relative die of negligence. And the phone needs to be charged in order to update people at home about the condition of the patient and ask for supplies. If these duties and more where being done for the patient, relatives would be more than willing to stay at home and come during visiting hours. I once escorted a friend who’s relative was admitted and when visiting hour was over and we were about to go, the nurse asked ‘muleya kwisa? nani walamutensha?’
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