Same situation five months ago
The hospital became a ‘war-zone’ in the early hours of June 9 when a group of people from a nearby tavern entered the hospital premises and started a fight
It is not the first time health professionals down tools at Witbank Hospital.
Just over five months ago the MEC for Health, Ms Sasekani Manzini and MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison in Mpumalanga, Ms Gabisile Shabalala had to step in and do damage control to normalise operations at Witbank Hospital.
This followed disruptions which led to health professionals downing tools demanding beefed up security.
The hospital became a ‘war-zone’ in the early hours of June 9 when a group of people from a nearby tavern entered the hospital premises and started a fight.
Some of the people who were injured during the fight at the tavern were taken to the hospital for medical attention and the other group followed them.
The fight got so bad that even the security personnel could not contain the situation which led to the South African Police Service being called for intervention.
According to Mr Dumisani Malamule, provincial spokesperson from the Department of Health the situation was later contained, however the fight had already proceeded to the hospital casualty unit where the nursing staff and doctors were also intimidated by the group of fighters.
“The situation has led to the staff at the hospital to fear for their lives, especially when they are doing night duty. The staff has consequently downed tools demanding that the security be beefed up,” he said.
Personnel from Emergency Medical Services have also joined in the strike.
On Monday, June 11 the department met with the staff and their union representatives to try and find a quick solution to the problem, as operations at the hospital were disturbed.
During a meeting held at the hospital Ms Manzini said “We have resolved that there will be an increase on the number of security personnel which brings the total number of security personnel to 20 per shift. We have also agreed that steel gates for the main gate and the admin gate will soon be installed.”
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