Johannesburg – The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union has criticised the placing under suspension of the Tembisa Hospital chief executive as a trick by the Gauteng Department of Health to fool the public.
Tembisa Hospital chief executive, Dr Lekopane Mogaladi, was suspended following a report into the death of Covid-19 patient Shonisani Lethole at the facility last year.
It was found not only had Lethole not been fed for 100 hours, but the hospital had been negligent and his death could have been prevented.
However, the union’s Tshepiso Seopa said suspending clinicians and hospital staff would never be enough to fix the rot in the public system that led to “the unfortunate death of Shonisani Lethole at the facility”.
“The health department is infamous for hand picking scapegoats to throw under the bus while avoiding the hard hitting issues on the ground such as understaffing and lack of PPEs in hospitals.
“This latest move by the department is a smokescreen to fool people into thinking that something is being done to resolve the issues in the system.
“This in no way excuses any fault on the part of the CEO. However the department knew that Tembisa hospital staff had major issues way before this unfortunate event took place. They knew that casualty staff was on strike because workers were being forced to work without PPEs during a pandemic,” he said.
According to Seopa, Lethole’s matter was escalated to the highest office in the department and “anyone with a brain could have foreseen the disaster waiting to happen at the facility”.
“They sat on their hands while doing absolutely nothing to salvage the situation and prevent the tragic loss of life.
“Today, the department wants to be seen as saviours with their announcements, saying they have suspended the CEO. They can suspend all the CEOs in the province but people will continue to suffer because the department has no desire to improve the system.”
IOL