Cape Town - The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (YNITU) say they welcome “the interesting public dialogue that was sparked by the video making rounds on social media” of a nurse at St. Mary's Hospital in Marianhill, KwaZulu-Natal, ill treating a patient.
However, they decried the media attention and “invasion of privacy” of the patient as a result of the video being shared on social media.
A video of Nozipho Ngcobo, 43 - a nurse from Hammarsdale - went viral on Facebook after being shared by a patient who occupied a bed opposite her.
Nozipho Ngcobo has been identified as the patient who was seen being ill-treated by a nurse at a KZN hospital in a video that went viral this week. Picture: Supplied
The nursing union has expressed its condolences with Ngcobo’s family and emphasised that it believes that a dying patient should be treated with dignity and respect.
Read: Patient died hours after hospital abuse caught on video
TYNTU called for “corrective action” to be taken against the person who “unlawfully” made the video and shared it to social media, in a statement released on Friday.
According to the union, the video “depicts a true picture of level of current ailing health care system and standard of nursing care across all health sectors.” They have accused the provincial health department of not taking responsibility for the deterioration of healthcare services in KwaZulu-Natal.
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The union pointed out that the Staff Nurse in the video should have been working under the direct supervision of a Professional Nurse and urged that all nurses be trained in customer care and other soft skills and that EAP programmes for the nursing sector be prioritised.
TYNTU called for a proactive approach to address the root cause of the problems plaguing the healthcare sector and say the public needs to help hold government accountable.