According to the Department of Health, 19 officials at the Middelburg Provincial Hospital have been suspended for embarking on an unprotected strike as the department tries to mitigate the disruption of laundry services.

Nurses and cleaning staff staged a demonstration on June 6, with the demand that management must go, alleging maladministration, as well as airing complaints on the continued decay of working conditions that are affecting the care of patients.

Informants within the hospital contacted the Middelburg Observer and said the gathering on June 6 was a demonstration, and not a strike, and that nursing and cleaning staff were demonstrating to improve patient care.

Informants further stated that a breakdown of laundry services resulted in a shortage of linen, leaving patients to lie on bare mattresses and to bring their own bedding.

Photos shared from informants showed that patients without their own blankets were covered with disposable plastic gowns.

The informants also complained of a lack of hot water in the kitchens and the wards, as well as a shortage of nursing staff and unpaid overtime monies.

The Mpumalanga Department of Health conducted ongoing meetings with demonstrating employees to address the list of complaints.

According to a media statement issued by the Department of Health, the department has taken essential steps to mitigate the disruption of linen services at the hospital.

“It is important to note that the laundry machines at Middelburg Hospital are ageing and, despite multiple repairs, the machines continue to fail, necessitating that some machines need complete replacement. In response to this, the department fixed some of the machines to continue washing laundry locally, whereas some linen is washed at neighbouring hospitals. Whilst the procurement of new laundry machines is underway, the department has managed to restore the services of the old laundry machines in the hospital.”

“The breakdown of the laundry machines affected the normal provision of hospital services; hence, a team of infrastructure technicians were working around the clock to address the challenges affecting laundry services.

“Unfortunately, in the midst of addressing these challenges, some of the hospital staff embarked on an unprotected strike with the demand that management vacate the hospital. The department engaged with those staff members and attended to some of their demands. However, 19 of the employees persisted in embarking on an illegal action by staging a sit-in in the offices of the CEO, matron and the corporate manager, demanding their removal.”

“Their action was disruptive, prohibiting the normal functioning of the hospital and impeding management from executing their duties. Despite repeated calls for these workers to return to their stations, they ignored the advice. This left the department with no choice but to effect precautionary suspensions, in the best interests of service delivery, and of the people of Steve Tshwete.”

“The department condemns any actions that will put the lives of fellow workers and patients at risk. The department respects the labour laws of this country, and whatever dissatisfaction the affected employees might have, they must confine themselves within the applicable laws to address their issues.

“The department would like to apologise to the communities and our patients who were affected by the disruptions that emanated from the developments in the hospital in the past two weeks.”