POLOKWANE – The strike follows the suspension of a nurse last Thursday. Fellow employees claim their colleague was suspended without reason and they demanded to know what the content of the suspension letter stipulated.
While the employees were sitting outside the clinic building, patients sat stranded inside.
Patients affected included chronic patients who receive their monthly prescriptions from the clinic, pregnant women, children and the elderly.
Some of the chronic patients said that they had not choice but to sit and wait, because they need their medication, “without it we will get very sick and that is a risk we are not willing to take,” they said.
A pregnant woman said she had no choice but to wait, because if she misses her clinic appointment the nurses will not be so friendly to her the next time she comes.
A 75-year-old woman said she was at the clinic since 06:30 to avoid the queue.
“I am sick and I need to see the doctor. Now it is 12:00 and I haven’t even received my file yet. I don’t have money to come back tomorrow so I have to sit and wait,” the woman said.
Officials from the Department of Health met with representatives of the employees and only after a two hour meeting did the personnel return to work.
Derick Kganyago, a spokesperson for the department, said the strike was illegal.
“Yes a nurse was suspended with full pay pending the outcome of an investigation. According to the labour law the content of the suspension letter is confidential and remains a matter between employer and employee. The employee can consult with a union for representation. The strike has no grounds and we have explained to the employees that if they continue with the strike that it will be on a No Work, No Pay basis and that is why they returned to work. There are officials monitoring the situation at the clinic,” Kganyago said.
He confirmed the department followed the labour law in dealing with the suspended employee.
At this stage we cannot say anything about the suspension as it is still under investigation,” he explained.
