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DENOSA Limpopo response to Health MEC's claims and lies about nurses who contracted COVID-19 in the province.
Media Statement
Monday, 25 January 2021
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in Limpopo has noted with serious concern the utterances made by MEC of Health, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, on nurses who tested positive for COVID-19 in the province, which are devoid of truth.
The utterances were covered by local Radio stations and Polokwane Observer newspaper (25/01/2021) where the MEC of Health used nurses as scapegoat in her department's failure to manage the pandemic in the province.
In the media reports, the MEC claimed that not a single nurse got infected inside healthcare facilities, and that those who got infected contracted the virus from their homes or outside the province during their leaves.
The utterances by the MEC are reckless, unprofessional, irresponsible, misleading and insensitive to emotional and physical trauma experienced by nurses who risked their lives, those of their family members and colleagues during hard lockdown as they faced the pandemic head-on as frontliners. And it is not the first time the MEC made such reckless and loose claims about her fellow healthcare workers, nurses.
Nurses are both physically and psychologically drained, exhausted and frustrated due to shortage of staff in the institutions due to high number of nurses who went on pension, comorbidities, resigned, passed on and others who are on isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.
The few nurses remaining on the system are forced to sacrifice their annual leaves to cover the shortage in the hospitals and clinics.
Most of nurses who tested positive didn't have privilege to take their annual leaves due to shortage of staff in the hospitals and clinics.
We have facilities where more than half, if not all staff members, tested positive e.g. Probeering Clinic (in Sekhukhune District), Seshego Zone 4 Clinic (Capricorn District), Northam Clinic (Waterberg District),
Bungani CHC (Vhembe District), Bismarck Clinic (Mopani District) and Pietersburg Provincial Hospital where 12 Nursing Managers tested positive. According to the records, the affected nurses were not on leave before testing positive for COVID-19 virus.
Most of the institutions in the province have reported continuous and or mismanagement of PPE. For instance, nurses are provided with one surgical mask to use per day which contravenes infection control protocols.
It is disingenuous of the MEC, who is a Healthcare Professional and Medical Practitioner, to make unfounded and misleading assumptions without proper preparation of research findings to justify that nurses were infected while at home.
During her stay in office, the MEC has continuously displayed disregard and disrespect for nurses and nursing as a profession.
DENOSA Limpopo condemns the attitude displayed by an MEC who has degenerated into a media addict (despite having two departmental spokespersons). The MEC fails to acknowledge and appreciate the good work done by nurses in the hospitals and clinics in the Province during this most difficult time, and irresponsibly chooses to project her department glowingly on the basis of pure lies.
DENOSA Limpopo demands the following:
1. Unconditional withdrawal of this irresponsible, insensitive, unprofessional and misleading utterance made by the MEC.
2. Provision of Psychosocial support to nurses and other employees affected by the pandemic in the Department of Health.
4. Provision and accessible quality PPE in the institutions.
3. Employment of additional Nurses, other Healthcare professionals and support staff.
4. Immediate employment of all outgoing Community Service Healthcare Professionals.
END
Issue by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in Limpopo.
For more information, contact:
Jacob Molepo, Provincial Secretary
Mobile: 0725764949
Lesiba Monyaki, Provincial Chairperson
Mobile: 0725782753
