Friday, 29 March, 2024
HomeMedico-LegalEastern Cape health and labour departments slug it out over hospital closure

Eastern Cape health and labour departments slug it out over hospital closure

An unprecedented legal battle is looming after health and safety inspectors from the Labour Department shut down Frere Hospital in East London amid concerns that its measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are inadequate, reports DispatchLIVE . The department and the province's health authorities are in dispute whether labour safety provisions trump the hospital's mandate to provide healthcare and the public's right to treatment during a pandemic.

On Friday, Eastern Cape Health Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo confirmed it had lodged an urgent interdict application to challenge the notice issued by Labour Department officials.

The report says the prohibition notice to shut down the hospital was served on Frere Hospital's acting CEO, James Thomas, last week by labour inspector Apiwe Maxontana. The director general of the Labour Department, Thobile Lamati, has refused to withdraw the notice for closure, arguing the health and safety of employees were important.

Nehawu regional secretary Zwelakhe Tywala supported the notice to shut the hospital down.

Kupelo said in the report: “It (the prohibition notice) is a nonsensical decision. You cannot in the middle of such a crisis walk into a hospital which has been operating for decades and take this route. We are applying for an interdict. It’s an urgent matter, it’s something which cannot be allowed.

“There are people so scared of the virus they try every trick on earth to frustrate the department. Instead of focusing on the virus, we are made to focus on other things.” It is arguably the first time that labour safety provisions have been used to shut down a hospital in South Africa.

The report says Frere has 20 major departments and a range of sub-specialities. The hospital has a total of 893 beds and is regarded as a referral facility for the entire province. The hospital’s output includes about 300 emergency after-hours surgeries, while some 32,620 outpatients attend the hospital every month.

None of these services will be able to continue, and none of the patients receive any medical treatment or medication should the hospital be shut. It is understood that health officials regard the labour inspector’s decision in the middle of a pandemic as unreasonable. They are concerned about the vagueness of the notice.

[link url="https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2020-05-23-covid-19-shut-down-frere-hospital-now-labour-department-insists/"]Full DispatchLIVE report[/link]

MedicalBrief — our free weekly e-newsletter

We'd appreciate as much information as possible, however only an email address is required.