Picture: The nurses and doctors down tools at the embattled Bophelong Provincial Hospital
By OBAKENG MAJE
The smooth running operation at Bophelo Provincial Hospital in Mahikeng, North West was affected today. This comes after nurses and doctors embarked on a peaceful march. The march was in solidarity with two officials, who were allegedly been placed on precautionary suspension by the North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha.
Sambatha said, the nurse in charge of the unit and nursing manager will be placed on precautionary suspension pending investigation. The suspension emanated from a video that went viral on various social media platforms, where newborn babies were seen placed in card boxes at the hospital.
Sambatha said the incident took place at the neo-natal unit on Saturday.
“Firstly, we must congratulate the nurses and doctors who are responsible for ensuring the safe deliveries of all 56 new-born babies. The issue that I’m confining myself to is only four newborn babies, who were put in card boxes. So, the preliminary report comes out tomorrow and that report must say to us, what had failed and if there is any person that the blame must be placed on.
“For now, I am clear and not interested to go to any doctor or nurse who delivered these babies. However, the hospital CEO and everyone who is in managerial positions, may not expect an escape from their responsibilities. Let’s wait for that preliminary report to come out,” he said.
Sambatha further said, the suspension of two officials was precautionary, not because they were charged. He added that they will have a follow-up meeting on Wednesday to address other issues.
National Education, Health, Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) regional chairperson in Ngaka Modiri Molema, Zanele Lawu said, their consultative meeting with Sambatha was fruitful. Lawu said they had agreed upon a process to get to the bottom of what has happened with regard to the situation at hand.
“Also, we are happy that the perception of the hospital management is going to change with regard to the initial suspension of our members. We said that there should be a process that deals holistically with the issues that we have raised. We are now going on a walkabout to identify those issues that Sambatha might not be aware of.
“We know there are challenges at the hospital and we believe that the hospital management and workers should work together to address them. The aim is to ensure that the hospital function optimally and ensure that there is service delivery. Look, as NEHAWU, we are not of a view that historical, systemic, and structural issues should be punitive,” he said.
Lawu said the challenges at the hospital are historical. He said it cannot be right that, every time when there is an issue, the management resorted to penalising those who were delivering service.
Meanwhile, DENOSA regional chairperson in Ngaka Modiri Molema, Tshepo Monoketsi shared the same sentiment.
Monoketsi said: “We deliberated upon issues and we had an agreement including the set of approaches. Sambatha also agreed that they might have overlooked some structural and systematic issues in terms of how the hospital should be operating.
“There is a plan and intention to make sure that those issues are addressed in no time. Some issues might not be resolved tomorrow, but there will be a follow-up meeting to ensure that we deal with them. I’m not going to enter the terrain on who should be suspended, but as long all necessary procedures were followed. As a union, we will go and defend our members.”
The Guardian 