Kassala Hospital: Beautiful facade, poor services
The Kassala Educational Hospital was established in 1905 and is considered one of the largest hospitals in Kassala State in terms of patients capacity. The hospital is the only available health care option for more than two thirds of Kassala’s population.
Therefore, state health authorities have to give this hospital the utmost care and attention by providing all needed equipment, life-saving medicines and employing competent specialists. Unfortunately, this significant facility has experienced much neglect, clearly manifested in the declining standards of health services provided to the public.
The hospital gate after the first rehabilitation phase, June 2013.
Numerous patients and visitors of the hospital expressed their resentment of the current degraded services provided to patients. Some hospital doctors described the place as experiencing its worst of days” and others even said, it is no longer eligible to receive patients”.
Kassala Hospital’s doctor in charge, Dr. Osman Habib Bashir, acknowledged the patients’ suffering and attributed the situation to two reasons: The high demand on the hospital by various social groups after completing the first rehabilitation phase” and the hospital’s administration exceptional circumstances” after implementing the second rehabilitation process, while the hospital is offering services”.
The rehabilitation process is constituted by three phases. The first phase was implemented between November 2012 and April 2013 and included the main gate to the main street in addition to building the exterior fence and maintaining the emergency department.
The second phase includes patients’ wards, administrative offices as well as water and sewage network. This phase has already started, but no specific date for completion was set.
The third phase covers the hospital’s flooring and rehabilitation of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), medical waste incinerator and the morgue. This phase has not been initiated yet. The hospital’s head said this phase is extremely difficult” and we ask Kassala residents to be patient”.
However, many question the real intentions behind this rehabilitation process, which mainly focuses on veneers and beautification of the main gate and the hospital’s facade toward the main street.
Rehabilitating the hospital will take a long time, but officials should give priority to patients’ needs. Instead of wasting money and time on decorating the hospital gate, for example, many patients believe it is more important to provide medicines and improve the standards of medical supervision and hospital cleanliness.
The ICU is designed to accommodate a maximum of twelve patients, but now it accommodates twenty-five patients.” Dr. Bashir said the reason for lack of certain medicines is due to the fact that providing medical supplies is confined to the federal authorities which have been in short supply during the past three months”. He added that state officials are exerting efforts to obviate the shortfalls of some of these medicines by providing them on their own private budget.
Consequently, it was not possible to dispense medicines to outpatients, which caused more suffering for patients, particularly those living in rural areas far from the hospital”, according to a patient who wishes to remain anonymous.
Many patients and visitors expressed their resentment about the dreadful environmental condition inside the hospital, which brings additional diseases and its degraded level affects the ICU as well.
Hayat Absher, a patient from el-Kara neighbourhood in Kassala, said she was admitted to the hospital because she suffered of diabetic complications. Though she praised the efforts made by the supervising medical staff, she said the hospital’s environmental condition is unbearable, as dirt and stinky smells fill the place”, in addition to swarms of mosquitoes and flies forcing her to urge her family to take her home and give her the needed medication there, at whatever cost.
Poor medical supervision and lack of medical specialists are among the problems experienced by patients as well, especially by ordinary citizens, who do not have special or influential relationships with doctors.
Abdul Majed Osman had to depend on his personal relationship to fetch a specialist from outside the hospital to examine his father, who suffered a bout of diabetes, because no specialist from the hospital was available to check on his father’s condition.
Authorities are busy discussing plans to introduce further beautification.”
Dr. Osman Habib Bashir denied this story, stressing that they have a meticulous medical supervision plan. He attributed the existing poor hygienic situation and shortage of specialists to poor awareness on the part of patients.
He said patients insist on calling specialists for the smallest issues. They also refuse to move to regular wards even if the doctor orders them to do so causing more pressure on the ICUs hygienic level. The ICU is designed to accommodate a maximum of twelve patients, but now it accommodates twenty-five patients,” he explained.
Despite all explanations, patients and even some hospital doctors still believe that dialogue between the two parties is not likely to lead to any solution. While people loudly demand improvement of the level of services and health care at the hospital, in addition to providing life-saving medicines, authorities are busy discussing plans to introduce further beautification to the hospital and phased-out rehabilitation of premises,” one doctor said.
