Strike continues at Themba Hospital
The hospital staff has downed tools as a result, patients are not being attended to and services are at a halt.
KABOKWENI- Themba Hospital employees’ strike continues after submitting a memorandum to the health department.
The memorandum which sighted a number of issues ranging from referral policy, increased budget, concerns about safety, shortage of staff and infrastructural challenge and a request for the reinstatement of the Chief Executive Officer, Mduduzi Shabangu.
Mpumalanga News visited the casualty ward this morning where a security guard confirmed that the strike is ongoing and it would be a fruitless exercise to seek medical attention as the staff was not working.
Patients are affected by the strike. ” I am in pain as we speak and I can see we are not going to be assisted. Why must we suffer for their internal issues,” asked a patient who said he had arrived before 7.00. A family from Jerusalem who are awaiting post-mortem results of their relative also shared their concerns. ” We had planned to bury my aunt this Saturday but we are told there is a strike at the hospital. This will only make matters worse as this delays preparations,” Mpho Maphosa said.
The CEO was suspended on March 26 as per as per the recommendation of the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) report, for misconduct in failing to comply with the Tobacco Products Control Act.
A report on the investigation into the care of a patient at the hospital was released recently.The late Phillip Ncence Mlimi sustained burn wounds when his bed in ward one caught fire on December 16, 2016. The Department of Health confirmed Shabangu’s suspension as per the recommendation of the PSC.
