Four clinical departments at the Tygerberg Hospital have been closed for sanitisation. According to a Cape Argus report this comes after the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) had visited the premises on Sunday to inspect the occupational health and safety measures in place to reduce the risk of transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
The report says the department's intervention comes after numerous trade unions called for the hospital to shut down due to safety risk and non-compliance of COVID-19 protocol.
Western Cape Health spokesperson, Mark van der Heever, confirmed the closures and said the four areas identified by DEL for further action was the engineering department, kitchen, main stores and two offices in the admin block. Previously the health department mentioned that there were 293 COVID-19 infections at Tygerberg Hospital, with 178 recoveries.
The Cape Argus report says the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) welcomed the closure. Saftu lodged a complaint with the DEL on 25 May and protested alongside the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers for the immediate intervention by the DEL.
[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/four-tygerberg-hospital-departments-closed-due-to-covid-19-concerns-49170172"]Full Cape Argus report[/link]