Staff at Uitenhage hospital picket over Covid-19 concerns

A nurse at Uitenhage Provincial Hospital says she collapsed when management assigned her to work in the ward with Covid-19 patients. She was among 50 other nurses, porters, cleaners and laundry staff who picketed outside the facility on Wednesday.

The group refused to work and demanded that all staff at the hospital be given personal protective equipment.

Another nurse, who asked not to be named, commented to the group that there were only two lifts in the hospital, one of which was designated to only be used for coronavirus cases. “Many people go floor to floor and they have no choice [but to use that lift] because there are only two lifts at this hospital.”

National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) regional secretary, Busiswa Stokwe, spoke to the workers as they sang near the entrance to the facility. Stokwe said that NEHAWU had initially agreed with hospital management to only use ward 5A for Covid-19 patients.

“We are so shocked that all the wards in this hospital are now hosting Covid-19 patients. According to our knowledge, the Department of Health announced that only Livingston Hospital in Port Elizabeth would host Covid-19 patients,” she said.

Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said, “We appeal to NEHAWU to refrain from these protests because this is a testing time for everyone. We appeal to NEHAWU to refrain from protests because even when they do so they wear protective gear they claim they don’t have. I doubt that there are Covid-19 cases in every ward at UPH. In this case … there is a distortion.”

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