Nurses differ with Busisiwe Mkhwebane on state of Tshwane hospitals

Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane during her oversight visit to Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital. She also went to Jubilee and Steve Biko hospitals. Oupa Mokoena African News Agency (ANA)

Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane during her oversight visit to Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital. She also went to Jubilee and Steve Biko hospitals. Oupa Mokoena African News Agency (ANA)

Published Aug 20, 2020

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Pretoria - The Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) has lambasted the state of hospitals in the city.

On Tuesday, Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane visited the Jubilee, Dr George Mukhari and Steve Biko academic hospitals and said she was satisfied with their preparedness for Covid-19 patients.

“It’s promising; it’s not doom and gloom. All in all, I would say things seem okay in these hospitals,” she said.

However, Denosa said it did not appreciate Mkhwebane’s sentiments and added that working conditions in hospitals such as Dr George Mukhari were bad.

It said some workers were being forced to work without proper personal protective equipment.

The organisation said it would ensure that those putting health workers’ lives at risk during the Covid-19 pandemic were brought to book.

According to the union, the increased number of healthcare workers testing positive for the coronavirus in Gauteng had resulted in a higher workload for the remaining staff.

It said that 450 nurses in Gauteng were infected by the virus, 350 of them its members.

Provincial chairperson Simphiwe Gada urged members to report managers who forced them to work without the important equipment.

He has also encouraged managers to inform the union when the Health Department failed to supply them with protective items.

“We want to warn managers who continue to intimidate workers to work without protective items that we will not tolerate that behaviour. But equally this period of Covid-19 has been plagued with command, control and complain later, that managers also find themselves being forced to implement wrong things. They must reach out to us as a union so we can intervene.”

Gada said they would engage with the department to act decisively in deploying proper support and interventions.

“We will also engage the SA Human Rights Commission to intervene,” he said.

Acting MEC for Health Jacob Mamabolo has assured nurses who were appointed on Covid-19 contracts that their salaries would be processed by the end of this month.

This comes after reports at the weekend alleging that at least 80 Covid-19 contract nurses at the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital have not been paid their July salaries.

*For the latest on the Covid-19 outbreak, visit IOL's #Coronavirus trend page.

** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, please call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999 or visit sacoronavirus.co.za

Pretoria News

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