Crisis looms as unvaccinated Gauteng hospital workers fall ill

In what could become a major crisis for the Gauteng health department, about 60 workers allegedly contracted infections at Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria after being deployed there without receiving any prior vaccinations.

The workers, who are employed as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme, claimed they picked up illnesses because they had not been vaccinated, as other hospital workers were required to be.

Yesterday the health department promised to respond to their plight as a matter of urgency.

One of the cleaners, Sanele Mlangeni, said she had suffered from a range of infections ever since she had started working at the hospital.

“We were employed by the provincial department of infrastructure development which sent us to Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria.

“I am working as a cleaner, there are others are in the kitchen and many others are general workers.

“Our problem is that no proper screening was done for health purposes. We were supposed to get vaccinations to protect us from illnesses and infections in the hospital. But no one is taking responsibility to do that,” Mlangeni said.

Alarm bells were sounded when several of the workers complained of infections and severe pains.

“I suffer from severe headaches every day,” said Mlangeni. “Some of my colleagues have rashes all over their bodies and it is uncontrollable.

“We have to come here every day and inhale infections.

“This environment is unsafe and no one really cares.

“I think the best thing they can do for us is to hire us as full-time employees of the hospital so that we can pay our medical bills ourselves.”

DA Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom said he had discussed the situation with the affected workers. They told him they had raised the matter with hospital management and the department of infrastructure development, to no avail.

“It seems that they were never vaccinated because they came from the department of infrastructure development instead of being employed directly by the hospital.

“This oversight has affected their health, leading to frequent absences from work.

“I have referred this matter to the South African Human Rights Commission as these workers right to work in a safe environment has been violated,” Bloom said.

The department of infrastructure development said it would send officials to the hospital today to confirm whether the allegations were true. They would then report to the provincial government on their findings.

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