MBOMBELA- The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) calls on the Department of Health to employ more nurses in clinics and hospitals as employees claim, they are overworked.
An employee from Emalahleni Hospital, Ms Zinhle Ngcwembe, said, “Some clinics in Witbank are threatened to close the 24-hour service due to a shortage of staff members and that will have a very bad impact on the community.
We request the MEC to appoint more staff members. People are resigning but posts are not being filled.
They keep freezing the posts. People should also stop acting without remuneration (Hollywood Style) #ActingMustFall,” she added.
The MEC for the Department of Health, Mr Gillion Mashego, he is pleased that the march did not disrupt services in hospitals and clinics, and that everything is still in order.
“I feel like they are being unfair because they were supposed to consult with me first, they were supposed to give me an opportunity to deal with all the problems.
I have answers to their memorandum, I’m aware of all their demands because all those were discussed in the chamber,” said Mashego.
He further explained that since his deployment he has employed 2 882 new staff members to try and deal with understaffed clinics and hospitals. In the 255 problems that were brought forward to him he has since attended to 190, he says, which shows that he is not ignorant but is moving forward.
Denosa provincial charperson, Mr Mzandile Shongwe, said they want a nursing directorate which will have the three structures in place, which are administration, education and practice.
“We also want to deal with outsourcing, security tenders must come to an end, the government brings in security guards in all working areas.
We are not safe at all. Even our working conditions are very bad. lack of facilities is also a problem.
We also don’t want the bursary system that they want to introduce. It will only cover us until a certain period. We want to carry on with the Persal system that has been working throughout,” concluded Shongwe.
• Nurses celebrate their day with a health walk
