While clean water should be the most basic guarantee in a health facility, patients at Jubilee District Hospital in Hammanskraal, Gauteng, are being forced to buy their own drinking water even on scorching summer days.
The hospital, which serves thousands of people each month, is crippled by an unreliable water supply, leaving patients and staff to fend for themselves amid a long-running water crisis.
I had been working around Hammanskraal on a particularly hot day when I suddenly felt dizzy and decided to stop at Jubilee to check my blood pressure. After parking, I walked a few metres towards the reception. Before I reached the entrance, a strong foul smell drifted from the building, a stench that seemed to cling to the area.
