Picture: Some of the patients at Taung District Hospital allegedly abandoned/Supplied
By OBAKENG MAJE
About 51 National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) affiliated members in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District have not received their salaries for this month. This comes after they allegedly embarked on ‘illegal’ protests a week ago demanding a 10% increment.
Now, patients at Taung District Hospital were allegedly left unattended as some of the aggrieved workers stopped working and picketed outside the hospital in demand of their salaries.
NEHAWU acting regional secretary in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District, Ismael Tshabile said: “It is true that some of our members did not receive their salaries for this month. We had a consultative engagement with the Human Resources (HR) Manager in the region regarding this.
“However, the HR Manager confirmed that this was the instruction from the provincial office not to pay them. So, negotiations are underway in a quest to ensure that, our members receive their hard-earned salaries. They have worked so hard for those salaries. So, the employer does not have any right to withhold their salaries.”
The North West Health spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane said, employees who participated in the recent NEHAWU strike were not paid their salaries.
“This is the decision of the national government. It is not all the employees, but those who participated in the strike. The cause of the withdrawal of salaries was due to what the national government deemed as participation in the unprotected strike,” Lekgethwane said.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Health, Michele Clarke who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) said, in light of the severe damage to the public health sector and the detrimental impact on patients, the DA will request that the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) investigate the NEHAWU strike.
Clarke further said, since the strike’s commencement, the DA has done multiple oversights and engaged with even more public health sector stakeholders.
“Our findings concur with media reports. The hospitals and clinics that aren’t crippled by the strike, are being overrun by the patients diverted there – and buckling under the pressure. We commend these public health facilities for doing their best to serve the public under extremely difficult circumstances and provide the best possible care. However, the situation is unsustainable.
“The Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla has confirmed that the death toll is rising. Patients and staff are being barred access to health facilities and intimidated and threatened – often in full view of the police who rarely intervene. Hospitals are filthy, and at many facilities, all but the most infirm patients have had to be discharged,” he said.
Clarke added that the impact on the health of the discharged patients and other members of the public that seek care might be immense. He said it is time NEHAWU brings the strike to an end.
“Yesterday, the Labour Appeal Court interdicted this strike action, which includes essential workers in the health sector. This bars them from participating in pickets, strikes, or industrial action.
“While the DA has sympathy for the horrendous circumstances many public health practitioners work in, a wage dispute cannot supersede the oath of care,” said Clarke.
The Guardian 