Patients are being neglected. (SABC)
Tags:
TB patients are being turned back at a MDR unit at Modimolle, Limpopo as health workers embark on a strike. The workers, among others, are demanding an allowance of R1 900 for working in the unit.
They allege that the department and hospital management are neglecting demands that they have been raising since 2007.
The unit has been operating with just eight professional nurses for years. They say they do not receive an allowance that their colleagues at other institutions receive.
We understand that senior management is attending to the patients while junior professionals are taking to the streets.
Local National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union secretary, Solly Baloyi says: "They had several meetings with the former MEC since 2007. So workers are involved in a strike because their needs were never met until today."
The provincial Department of Health says the demands of the workers are being attended to. Limpopo Health spokesperson, Sinenhlahla Gumede says: "We understand that senior management is attending to the patients while junior professionals are taking to the streets. Though not ideal we are working around the clock to address the issues that they have raised."
Patients are being neglected. Some are being turned back. The ones that were admitted before the strike say they no-longer receive their daily treatment on time.
Workers have threatened to render the hospital ungovernable should their demands not be met by the end of the month.
Police are monitoring the strike.
