Arrests need to be made over hospital riot – health minister

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has described the protest at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg as unacceptable and says arrests need to be made.

The minister visited the facility yesterday.

Jack Bloom, DA spokesperson on health in Gauteng, has called for an urgent resolution to the strike.

“I visited the hospital and found rubbish strewn all over and the remains of burnt-out fires. Non-emergency surgery has been cancelled and most patients have left the hospital,” he said.

“I was told that protesters threatened staff and patients and in one instance, pulled doctors out of surgery while a patient was on the operating table.”

Bloom said he “deplored” the violence at the hospital as it was traumatic for patients and staff.

“The Gauteng health department should have resolved worker grievances more speedily. Protest action has included other hospitals including Leratong Hospital on the West Rand and Bertha Gxowa hospital in Germiston,” he said.

“Violence in hospitals should never be condoned no matter the grievance, and perpetrators must be brought to book,” Bloom added.

Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa confirmed a doctor was assaulted during the chaos at the hospital earlier in the day.

The MEC visited the Johannesburg facility yesterday afternoon after hundreds of protesters forced patients out of the hospital, damaged equipment and infrastructure and blocked entrances.

Chaos erupted at the hospital yesterday as angry workers protested over the nonpayment of performance bonuses. They congregated inside the hospital, barring people from entering the building, including patients.

One witness said: “Doctors are not being allowed to work. All exits have been blocked. The situation is untenable.”

There were several unconfirmed reports throughout the day of staff riots leading to locked wards and people being locked in the facility’s basement.

“Workers were throwing garbage bins on the floor and chanting and singing,” said South African Police Service spokesperson Captain Elliot Tshivhase.

He said police were keeping watch over the situation.

“The situation has normalised and Public Order Police, as well as the metro police, are monitoring the situation,” he added.

National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) deputy provincial secretary Gracia Rikhotso said workers had been protesting for the past three days because the health department had not paid performance bonuses to qualifying employees for the 2016 and 2017 financial years.

“Workers have rejected the Gauteng department of health’s lacklustre response to the memorandum of demands, which was handed over to the department and the office of the premier during a march on March 16,” she said.

Rikhotso highlighted that the protests affected service delivery, urging the department to pay the performance bonuses.

“We are calling on the department of health to immediately begin engaging labour on a plan to implement pay progression and performance bonuses for the 2017-18 financial year,” said Rikhotso.

The situation at the hospital was calmer later yesterday afternoon, but waste from the overturned rubbish bins was still strewn across hallways in the hospital.

All non-emergency procedures were cancelled.

Workers were demanding a meeting with Gauteng MEC for health Dr Gwendoline Ramokgopa.

– Additional reporting by Citizen reporter

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