Staff Reporter
Free State health authorities are battling to contain labour unrest after nurses at two of the province’s major healthcare institutions went on strike this week demanding safer working conditions as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc.
Healthcare workers at Pelonomi Hospital’s maternity section and the Free State Psychiatric Complex downed tools on Thursday saying their lives were in danger after their colleague had succumbed to the coronavirus with several of them infected.
The striking workers claimed the provincial health department was taking long to address their concerns.
Nurses at the Pelonomi maternity unit wanted to be tested for COVID-19 and have the ward disinfected after a patient tested positive for the acute respiratory disease, with 24 of them eventually contracting it.
At the mental institution, the healthcare workers complained about a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and poor working conditions.
The health department confirmed the industrial action at the two hospitals but was quick to express its disappointment saying the nurses had resorted to downing tools at a time their concerns were being addressed.
Spokesperson Mondli Mvambi criticised some of the healthcare workers for allegedly exaggerating the situation.
“The Free State Department of Health would like to set the record straight that indeed there were industrial actions today (Thursday) at both Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital and Free State Psychiatric Complex,” he said in a statement.
Mvambi described the issue as “sponsored and clearly aimed at tarnishing the image of the department”.
“About 20 maternity ward nurses were embarking on an illegal strike demanding that their ward be sprayed and fogged,” he said.
“They claimed that they don’t have PPEs and that at times they are ‘forced’ to use the same PPEs for a whole week . . .
“I checked the record and found that PPEs are ordered from the central dispensing unit and sent to various wards on Mondays and Fridays.”
Mvambi said workers did not receive similar PPEs as the equipment was allocated according to the nature of their duties.
“Staff that work with patients to perform aerosol-generating procedures get their full PPEs, but others get PPEs in line with the guidelines and standard operating procedures which are in line with WHO (World Health Organisation) and NICD (National Institute for Communicable Diseases),” he explained.
Mvambi also dismissed reports that children were starving at the psychiatric complex.
“It is not true that children are starving at the Free State Psychiatric Hospital,” he said.
“However, when there was a strike there, there was obviously a regrettable delay in the provision of food but food was eventually served when management intervened through protracted negotiations with the unions.”
Mvambi said the strike started after some staff learnt that some of their colleagues and patients had tested positive for COVID-19.
“The department is disappointed by the seemingly uncaring and unbecoming conduct of some of our staff members who seem to be more committed to disruption of services than to care for patients,” he said.
“The department maintains that all channels to facilitate labour relations are open and that employees from organised labour and individuals are welcome to use appropriate channels to ensure that the management does not suppress their rights.”
He said the health MEC had even asked nurses to refuse to work when they are not given appropriate PPEs.
“It is now disappointing to see staff that is using falsehoods as justification to neglect their responsibility and embark on illegal strikes instead,” the spokesperson said.
Mvambi confirmed that two patients had succumbed to COVID-19 at the Free State Psychiatric Complex but “no child passed away”.
To ensure a better working environment at the psychiatric complex, Mvambi said an isolation unit was being refurbished and more staff were being hired.
These included 21 contract cleaners and two contract professional nurses, he said.
Mvambi said a further 23 assistant nurses, five staff nurses and 10 professional nurses were to be hired on a permanent basis.
However, Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) Free State chairperson Thibogang Talbort Thole told The Free Stater disputed the point that the nurses downing tools were being unreasonable, saying he was fully aware of the challenges they were facing.
“The shortage of PPEs is becoming quite apparent,” Thole said.
“As DENOSA, we have distributed 2 000 cloth masks to our members so that they can use them before and after work.
“The system by the health department of keeping the PPEs at a central place does not seem to be working given that the demand for PPEs has increased.
“Everyone has to wear a mask while at work at all times. It’s a new normal and they have to adjust.
“In this period of a pandemic, why not change and have more PPEs available?
“Nurses are professionals and they can’t just wake up saying there are no PPEs.” Thole said the nurses from the Pelonomi maternity unit were now in quarantine but, unfortunately, one of them had passed on.
“All they wanted was to have the place decontaminated and for them to get tested. They got no joy and they resorted to protesting,” the DENOSA provincial chairperson said.