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“Stop the exploitation of community service workers, increase the intake of student nurses, safety at our health facilities is non-negotiable, away with budget cuts in health.”
These are some of the demands being made by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) in Gauteng.
On Wednesday, Denosa members marched to the offices of the provincial health department, the Treasury and Premier David Makhura to hand over a memorandum of grievances.
Denosa provincial chairperson Simphiwe Gada said the march followed months of the non-payment of many nurses who had completed their community service nurses but had not been offered full-time employment although there were vacant positions which the department had budgeted for.
He said the nurses, from across the province’s five districts, met in Johannesburg to voice their unhappiness over a failure by the Gauteng government to address the many human resources management glitches.
READ: Gauteng health dept claims no nurses 'due for retrenchment' as more than 50 await salaries
“We also demand the immediate removal of the CFO, Lerato Madyo, over the many failures to pay suppliers, which has resulted in many patients at various hospitals going days without food and facilities overburdened with uncollected medical waste,” Gada said.
He said some of the demands included the fair implementation of the performance bonuses, the filling of vacant nursing positions, a support plan for healthcare workers who are depressed and suffered from various mental illnesses due to being overworked and the immediate suspension of nursing agencies for recruitment.
Gada said the many deficiencies in the provincial health department had led not only to a lack of trust in public healthcare but also lowered the standard of care rendered to patients.
“This has seen patients having to spend the whole day in public healthcare facilities as a result of a shortage of nursing staff. This is disturbing as many nurses as possible whose studies were funded by the government are made to stay at home when their services are greatly needed by the patients in the facilities,” Gada said.
READ: Young nurses in Gauteng not paid for three months – Denosa
Early this month Denosa said many young nurses working in the province had not been paid for at least three months and accused the department of treating the nurses with disdain. The department promised to settle the outstanding payments but only some were paid. At the start of the march at Cosatu House on Wednesday, Denosa’s Bongani Mazibuko told eNCA that 50 of the community service workers had been paid but 20 more were still waiting for their salaries.
Mazibuko said Denosa was also demanding that the provincial health department’s budget should be increased so that more healthcare workers can be employed.
This is a developing story, it will be updated once comment has been received from the department.
