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DENOSA KZN calls on Health Department to address the grievances of mortuary workers as nurse's work is also affected
Media Statement
Monday, 03 December 2018
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in KZN calls on the provincial Department of Health to speedily resolve the issue of employees working in mortuaries in various facilities, because it is now compromising the work of nurses as well.
DENOSA believes the workers have a valid reason to embark on the protest, because it cannot be fair that they work in pathology as specialists and yet are still paid salaries of being general workers.
As a result of this reasonable protest, which has led to bodies piling up at many morgues in KZN and procedures getting delayed, nurses' work is also getting compromised.
"When a patient has demised, the nurse responsible for his/her care must ensure that all details of the patient's whereabouts in the mortuary are such that they can account to patient's families," says DENOSA KZN Provincial Secretary, Mandla Shabangu.
"But because corpses are not being attended to, the shelves have filled up to such that bodies are dropped on the floor by workers and, in many instances, on top of each other. Now nurses cannot say where the body is located, because ordinarily you will record the shelve number. Now patient's families won't be able to easily see their relative's bodies as well. Corpses may get missing, and our members will face charges that they shouldn't be facing had all the issues that the workers are complaining about been sorted by the Department."
DENOSA calls on the Department to address the matter as a matter of urgency because the workplace for nurses has now become a risky area too.
DENOSA leadership in the province is due to meet with the representatives of the National Department of Health in Pretoria today over the matter.
End
Issued by DENOSA in KwaZulu-Natal
For more information, contact:
Mandla Shabangu, DENOSA KZN Provincial Secretary.
Mobile: 071 643 3369
