Water Crisis Grips Livingstone Central Hospital: Staff Forced to Use Methylated Spirit for Handwashing as Surgeries Are Adjourned

Health workers at Livingstone Central Hospital, now elevated to University Teaching Hospital status, are resorting to methylated spirit to wash their hands amid a crippling water shortage that has forced the postponement of life-saving surgeries and left pregnant women delivering in dire conditions.

The revelation came from Patriotic Front (PF) Livingstone Media Director Mr Chilufya Mwewa, who painted a grim picture of the crisis gripping Southern Province’s flagship health facility and the broader Livingstone community.

“It’s very bad,” Mr Mwewa told journalists. “In these times, a woman who is pregnant goes to the hospital and during delivery there’s no water. In some cases the hospital is even adjourning some surgeries. The situation is worse.”

He added that the water shortage has reached such desperate levels that medical staff are now using methylated spirit – a harsh industrial alcohol normally reserved for disinfection – as a substitute for basic handwashing.

Mr Mwewa said the crisis is not confined to the hospital but affects homes across Livingstone, where residents receive erratic or no piped water supply. Yet it is the hospital’s plight that has sparked widespread outrage.

“All Zambians are cross,” he declared. “This facility does not only benefit politicians. That facility is meant to look after our welfare.”

The hospital, once the pride of the Southern Province, now operates as a University Teaching Hospital, making the water failure even more scandalous, Mr Mwewa stressed.

“We cannot have a university teaching hospital that doesn’t have the continuous supply of water,” he said. “This is our pride. We need to come on board as Livingstone community – not politicians – and sort out the water problem at Central Hospital.”

Mr Mwewa appealed directly to ordinary residents, bypassing political channels, urging the community to unite and resolve the crisis.

“This is my appeal, not just to politicians. This is an appeal to the Livingstone community. Let us come together as one and resolve the water crisis at our biggest hospital in Southern Province.”

The PF media director’s remarks come as residents report worsening conditions, with taps running dry for days on end and health services stretched to breaking point. No immediate comment was available from water utility authorities or the Ministry of Health on when the situation would be resolved.

Mr Mwewa’s comments were made while addressing recent PF internal party matters, but he returned repeatedly to the water emergency, insisting it demanded urgent collective action from all Livingstone residents.

The hospital serves thousands daily, including referrals from across the province. With no reliable water, basic hygiene protocols have collapsed, raising fears of infection outbreaks and further deterioration of maternal and surgical care.

End