Gift of the Givers comes to the rescue

Johannesburg – The Gift of the Givers has responded to the plight of patients and staff at the Rahima Moosa Hospital in Coronationville which has been starved of water for a fortnight, availing its drilling team to search for boreholes.

Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman said the hospital and the surrounding Coronationville community had been dealt a crisis by the poor water infrastructure in the area.

They have not had water since May 19, he said.

“Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital is in crisis and so is the community around it.

“Water delivery to the hospital and to the region has shutdown inexplicably on 19 May with no clear explanation from the relevant water authority as to the cause of the problem,” he said.

Crucially, the hospital is being used as a feeder hospital for the temporarily closed Charlotte Maxeke Hospital which went alight in April.

Sooliman said it had initially been thought that there was a pump failure due to load shedding, but it now appeared as though the real reason was the ageing water infrastructure.

“The crisis couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time with rapidly rising Covid-19 numbers in the third wave in Gauteng, Rahima Moosa being one of the feeder hospital’s for the temporarily shut Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, healthcare workers trying to catch up with non-Covid conditions between the second and third wave and add to that a desperate community in the vicinity of the hospital thronging to the hospital in search of drinking water, clearly exacerbating Covid-19 risk.

“Gift of the Givers were approached by hospital staff and management requesting bottled water, portable toilets and any practical assistance to augment the water tankers arriving daily.

“Having delivered bottled water on 28 and 31 May, Gift of the Givers drilling teams will be arriving at the hospital shortly, having been granted permission by the management and infrastructure team to drill for water,” he said.

Gift of the Givers geologist, Dr Gideon Groenewald, has already identified a drilling site at the hospital.

He said companies could also make donations of bottled water to the Coronationville community.

“Existing, defunct boreholes will be assessed with a view to resuscitate them whilst drilling for new boreholes then pumping water directly into the hospital infrastructure using booster pumps and setting up taps outside the hospital for community usage once the water has been tested and approved for human consumption.

“Bottled water from companies will be welcome whilst awaiting successful drilling, yield testing and laboratory water tests,” said Sooliman.

IOL