Patients suffer due to strike by nurses

POLOKWANE – Striking Pietersburg Provincial Hospital personnel are back at their posts following their strike action last week.

Not all the personnel participated in the strike, but those who were at work were forced not to work by their colleagues who were on strike.

According to one of the nurses, the patients were not receiving any care.

“We were working, but they came and said that if they found us working there would be trouble, because they were striking for all of us to benefit, and if we worked then their efforts would be for nothing,” she explained.

According to the personnel, they were striking because the department was not sticking to its promises.

“The department owes us performance bonuses for 2012/13 and we also did not receive our pay progression of 1% as promised by the department. Staff from other hospitals like Seshego already received their money, but we are told that not all of us will get our money. That is nonsense, the department promised us the money and we want our money.”

Another employee said people might think they were crazy for striking over 1%, but even 1% would make a difference to their salaries. “We have families to support and every little bit helps,” the employee said.

A concerned family member of a man who was a patient, said while the nurses were striking, the patients were not getting their medication. “My brother is very sick and due to the strike, his condition has worsened,” the family member said.

Review visited the hospital on Friday and found that the clerks who issued patients’ files were not at their desks, and trainees were helping patients at a very slow pace.

Waiting patients told Review that they had been sitting at the hospital since 06:00 and had still not received their files by 13:00.

“The people who are striking came and told the clerks not to work. Now we are being helped by students,” one patient said.

An angry and frustrated mother whose child is a patient said: “We have small sick children who must see the doctors, but we are not being helped.

“The children are crying because they are tired. We have been here since early this morning and we cannot leave because our children need to see the doctor.”

Macks Lesufi, department spokesperson, said the strike was over and employees had returned to their jobs with immediate effect.

“The hospital employees went on an impromptu and unprotected strike. As the department, we engaged with the leaders of the unions to resolve the issues relating to the employee performance and development system. A team has been set up to deal with each individual case.

“Once verification has been completed, agreed to and signed off, payments will be effected. Our deadline to complete the process is June 9,” Lesufi explained.