The Grootfontein Municipality has donated plumbing and electrical equipment to the town's state hospital.

The donation by Mayor Talitha Garises follows complaints by medical staff who were serving patients in dark rooms and having broken ablution in many ward rooms.

The donation of 225 bulbs will be installed in the children's ward, treatment rooms, bathrooms, and hospital corridors that have been in the dark for several months.

"As a mother, I was deeply touched by the plight of the children's ward, which is said to be dark at night due to non-functioning bulbs or lights. Other wards are also said to be experiencing similar problems, including a lack of operational sanitation facilities, as only one toilet seems to be working currently for all outpatients."

The acting Senior Medical Officer, Dr Josefina Kuume, commended the council for its support.

"We would like to thank you, Your Worship, especially for this kind gesture and your work towards making this possible. We would also like to thank OK Foods for its sponsorship. We really, as a hospital, appreciate it, and this will allow us to further impact and give good service to our patients."

Grootfontein Municipality's Management Committee Chairperson, Elizabeth Kastoor called for speedy fixing of damaged areas by the ministries of Works and Transport and Health and Social Services. 

"I would like to ask the Ministry of Works to please speedily light the hospital as it's long overdue. And to the business fraternity in and around Grootfontein, we are very thankful that they always hear the cries from the office of the mayor. With this said, we will still come back to you, as the hospital is far from being repaired. We are still having a lot of problems with non-functional toilets, so we will still go back to the business fraternity."