Durban - THE Democratic Nursing Union of South Africa (Denosa) is disappointed at the government for excluding health-care workers from the R500billion Covid-19 relief announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The R500bn would be used to stimulate the economy and protect millions of South Africans from social distress and hunger.
Unions have called for the government to compensate health-care workers as people at the forefront of treating Covid-19 patients after it was declared a pandemic.
Denosa provincial secretary Mandla Shabangu said the government shot down union proposals on Friday to exempt health-care workers from paying tax during the pandemic, and to pay them a Covid-19 allowance, saying there was no money for it.
“We are disappointed to hear the president, three days later, announcing a social welfare fund of R500bn.
"The question is where did the money suddenly come from? This leaves us with a message that says health-care workers are on their own,” said Shabangu.
In KwaZulu-Natal, nearly 200 nurses have contracted Covid-19.
“Health-care workers are at the forefront of nursing the patients and in the process have fallen victim to the virus. Health-care workers continue to put their lives at risk,” said Shabangu.
He said the union’s proposal was that the government compensate health-care workers with a R500 allowance or exempt them from tax, but all this fell on deaf ears.
“We were told there is no money. We are not saying social grant beneficiaries and unemployed citizens should not have been given something extra to put food on the table during this difficult time, but we feel the response from the government did not take the health workers into consideration,” said Shabangu.
He said the proposal was prompted by the fact that the government had also backtracked on increases which were to be paid from April this year.
“The government is making a mockery of health-care workers. Health-care workers were already overworked long before the Covid-19 outbreak,” said Shabangu.
Health and other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (Hospersa) public relations officer Kevin Halama said they were disappointed that a tax break for health workers working during the lockdown was not given.
He said Hospersa acknowledged the “difficult task” the government had in dealing with the pandemic, and the social and economic issues stemming from the lockdown.
“We are encouraged that the stimulus package has made provision to address the shortage of personal protective equipment, which will go a long way in protecting our members’ lives and the country’s fight against this deadly virus,” said Halama.