United Bulawayo Hospitals urgently need an elevator

Nurses at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) are having a torrid time carrying patients up and down the stairs after an elevator broke down.

A nurse at the hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the elevator was down and the staff is compelled to take the patients up for X-rays and return them to their wards.

"Times are hard at UBH, the elevator is down and we resort to carrying patients on stretchers and there is risk of accidents along the stairway," he said.

"Management at the hospital did not prioritise the elevator during the allocation of the budget.

"It only thought of painting the halls at the institution."

George Mugabe, a security guard at the hospital, said the elevator always broke down and management had brought in some young men to work as nurse aides to carry patients up and down into wards.

"The elevators at the hospital are old and every time they are repaired they hardly work for a month," he said.

"I am not sure if the technicians are the ones to blame.

"Nurses used to carry patients up and down the stairs, but now the management has hired some people for that."

UBH chief executive officer Nonhlanhla Ndlovu said the elevator was now obsolete and needed to be replaced.

"The elevator is old and it needs to be replaced," she said.

"It is repaired today the next day it is down. It is true that the staff carry patients when the elevator is down.

"We have the costing for a new elevator and certainly it needs to be replaced."