Denosa concerned about lack of nurses after the Ngwaabe clinic saga
"Denosa reiterates that the Limpopo Department of Health must hire cleaners and admin clerks and not overlook the essence of the presence of these support staff members, because nurses are not cleaners and they are not admin clerks."
STEELPOORT – The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) said there is a lack of staff in most clinics in Limpopo.
This comes after a heavily pregnant woman who was about to go in labour, had to be assisted by community members as she gave birth next to Ngwaabe Clinic in Sekhukhune last Saturday.
“Denosa Limpopo takes great exception to the unwarranted blame of nurses at Ngwaabe Clinic by the management of Tubatse Sub-District Health in Sekhukhune over an incident that was caused by the ongoing severe shortage of staff within the Department of Health in the province,” said Denosa’s Sibongiseni Delihlazo in a media statement.
She said the clinic had a nursing staff composition of six professional nurses until mid-June, whereas it should have eight.
“Denosa reiterates that the Limpopo Department of Health must hire cleaners and admin clerks and not overlook the essence of the presence of these support staff members, because nurses are not cleaners and they are not admin clerks.”
Malebo Malatji, a resident of Ngwaabe said there have been more than two incidents where pregnant women were turned away from the clinic.
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“Because the clinic does not operate during weekends, we are turned away by security personnel at the gates.”
Limpopo health department’s Neil Shikwambana said they are investigating allegations of misconduct against nurses at Ngwaabe Clinic, who allegedly refused to help a heavily pregnant woman over the weekend.
“We will also investigate the allegations of staff shortages at the clinic.”
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The department confirmed that a written agreement was signed by community members, nurses, clinic and health authorities that after the incident, nurses would work at night to attend to emergencies, with immediate effect.
One of the residents in Ngwaabe, Frank Malapa said the Ngwaabe Clinic’s personnel were ill-treating patients. “They have a history of ignoring patients, chit-chatting and not helping. There are two or three nurses who are dedicated, but most of them do not care about the sick people.”
In November 2018, Steelburger/Lydenburg News published a story in which the Ratseke family complained about the nurses at the same clinic. They allegedly refused to treat the bloodied wounds of a minor.
