Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of health has met with management at Addington Hospital following a protest by staff at the state health facility on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, staff downed tools over the hospital's faulty lifts which made accessing patients difficult for staff. Patients and visitors were also affected as they had to use the stairs.
KZN HOD Dr Sandile Tshabalala said the new working committee would monitor the lift repair progress as the department pushed for a more permanent solution.
He said damage due to flooding had led to the malfunctioning of four lifts for patients – two for miscellaneous services, and another two for food. Currently, only a service lift and a food lift are in an operational state.
"The department has been engaging closely with the appointed service provider, which has been working flat-out to source parts and ensure that the lifts are repaired timeously. Following a fruitful meeting on Monday afternoon, a working committee was formed which is made up of organised labour, facility management and senior officials from head office – including engineers from the department's Infrastructure Development Unit," he said.
Tshabalala said the committee would be responsible for monitoring the day-to-day functioning of the hospital and the lifts repair process, ensuring that there was regular communication between engineers, hospital management, and organised labour, and keeping staff at all levels informed of the progress made in addressing any identified challenges.
"It must be noted that due to the specialised nature of the lift equipment, parts have to be ordered overseas, which may affect their timely shipping to local shores – which is susceptible to logistical backlogs caused by the Covid-19 epidemic. However, it must also be noted that in addition to the imminent arrival of parts to repair the lifts, the department has a bigger project in the pipeline to replace the old lifts. This is expected to commence early in the new year," he said.
Tshabalala added that the department understood the frustrations of staff and the public, and wished to assure them that the situation at the hospital would soon return to normal.
In the same vein, the department appealed to the affected essential services workers to put the needs of the public first, and not move away from their “noble mandate as health workers”, which was to heal the sick and save lives.