By Musa Mdluli

MBABANE: Zakithi Mndzebele, a resident of Siteki who travelled over 50 kilometres to seek medical care, said for almost three hours, her mother struggled to be assisted into the wards at Mbabane Government Hospital due to shortage of wheelchairs.

Speaking to this Swaziland News on Thursday morning while at the Mbabane Government Hospital, Mndzebele said they struggled to access the ward because they needed the wheelchair to transport her sickly mother from their car to the ward because she couldn’t walk.

“The problem here is serious, people are struggling as we speak, there are no wheelchairs yet they are needed to transport the patients from the car to the wards upon arrival at the hospital. Even if you can rush to hospital, your relative can die inside the car while you struggle to find wheelchairs” she said.

Efforts to reach Dr Simon Zwane, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.

Bheki Mamba, the President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union(SWADNU) in an earlier interview with this publication,  said the situation was getting worse within the various government hospitals due to shortage of drugs and other working material.

The SWADNU President said it was surprising that Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini opted to seek medical care in South Africa while other citizens were struggling in the various hospitals.

“We are surprised that now that the Prime Minister of this country is sick, he opted to seek medical treatment outside the country while here at home, there's no medication to treat a mere headache, no fuel for Ambulances to transport patients, no food, we are seriously concerned about this. This shows that this government is not interested at all in prioritizing the lives of the ordinary citizens because those in power have an opinion to seek medical treatment outside the country” said the nurses President.

Reached for comments, Lucky Lukhele,the Spokesperson of the Swaziland Solidarity Network(SSN) said the situation will get worse in the various hospitals and the whole country until eMaswati remove King Mswati from the Throne.