Updated August, 14

The Department of Health and striking auxiliary workers from Rob Ferreira Hospital under the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) had a meeting on Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

Health department spokesman Dumisani Malamule confirmed that the workers are back to work and there are no interruptions at the hospital.

On Tuesday Sdumo Masilela, Nehawu regional secretary, confirmed that Nehawu allied workers had a meeting on Monday and they will have yet another meeting on that day.

“We are currently attending to the issues that the workers raised and we will have another meeting scheduled next week,” Malamule said.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Rob Ferreira Hospital workers protest

Background

Striking workers prevented vehicles from entering Rob Ferreira Hospital on Monday morning.

Auxiliary workers blocked the main gate to the hospital with burning waste yesterday.

They also staged a sit-in in the hospital’s boardroom last Thursday.They said they have not received personal protective equipment and the tools required to fulfil their duties since 2016.

The protesters demanded that the MEC for health, Sasekani Manzini, step in to resolve the issues between them and hospital management.

According to Sdumo Masilela, National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) regional secretary, the workers have been awaiting a response from the hospital management since last week.

Masilela said they were forced to work without proper uniforms, which was a health hazard.

“The importance of this uniform for these auxiliary workers is that it is protective and it is also used to identify them while they perform their duties in the hospital,” he said.

According to the protesters, the lack of a laundry facility at the hospital also affects them.

Masilela said patients often do not have clean hospital clothes, blankets or linen.

“This affects them because they cannot operate if they do not have clean linen for the patients in theatre,” he said.
Lowvelder has previously reported on several promises made by the Department of Health to build a laundry at Rob. It was supposed to become operational in March, but is not functional.

Health department spokesman Dumisani Malamule denied that workers did not have personal protective uniforms. He said they were provided uniforms and the workers raised their concerns about the quality of some of the items.

“They said the T-shirts which were provided by the service provider have something wrong with them. They also said they are not of good quality. We have a three-year contract with this service provider and we promised to deal with the problems of the workers.

ALSO READ: Rob Ferreira Hospital workers vow to continue protesting if MEC Sasekani Manzini does not step in

“They raised several issues too, such as the renovation of the nurses’ home and tools of trade last week. We said we will address their demands. This morning they started protesting before we could do that. We cannot simply answer them just for the sake of doing so, we have scheduled a meeting for 14:00,” Malamule said.

He said they will address the demands at the meeting and are currently intervening for the sake of the patients affected by the protest.

Malamule could not confirm for how long these workers are supposed to use the uniforms. He could also not comment on their concerns regarding the laundry facility.