The past week will be remembered for the horrendous and chaotic crisis at Rob Ferreira Hospital which saw health standards being dealt a very bitter blow, due to a strike by Nehawu members over legitimate demands which had gone unmet and unattended to by the powers that be, but the worst sufferers were the ordinary people whose sick relatives were lying unattended among filth and the stench of decaying bodies.

What an unforgivable situation it was as the strikers also resorted to flooding all the floors causing a mess the likes of which has not been seen in a very long time.

The provincial government needs to act very fast and stop postponing matters because as long as they prolong this, the worse things will get.

Right now, they need to furnish us with the exact number of people who died during the strike because of negligence from all parties concerned.

On the other hand, where were the nursing staff in the wards to remove the bodies and take them to the mortuary? Much as it turned out that the very mortuary was not in working order, at least the bodies should have been removed from the wards. Imagine the germs and contamination.

Is the nurses’ duty also not to remove bodies? Where are the olden days when nurses were committed and answered to their calling?

Surely this democracy and job creation is killing our people and has led to a real crisis in the health sector.

Why are hospital workers also not part of the emergency category that is not allowed to strike, no matter what?

In essence, every person in the employ of the health sector in whatever capacity should adhere to a non-striking clause, no matter what, and the government should back that up by ensuring their work conditions enable them to do their duties with ease.

I tend to agree with a Facebook friend of mine who rightly pointed out that those strikers have medical aid and don’t care about the situation at public hospitals as they receive their treatment at private hospitals anyway.

That is true to a great extent. Go to private hospitals, it is the very civil servants who enjoy them and the general public has to continue enduring substandard health services.

Enough is enough, I dare say. Fix the problems at hand and make health services the best as we have the infrastructure and personnel.

All you need to do at this moment, is change the mindset of all stakeholders involved to think about the people they serve at all times or else this country will go to the doldrums. Time will tell.