While the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) received sympathy for the issues over which its members went on strike this week, the widespread disruptions at healthcare facilities which put patients and staff lives at risk, has been strongly condemned, writes MedicalBrief.
The union and government have been slammed for this week’s unruly, violent protests at health facilities countrywide, with the state accused of failing to quell the havoc, and the union of failing to rein in its members and prioritise patients’ safety.
Writing in the Daily Maverick, health activist Mark Heywood was clear: two wrongs don't make a right. " … what is happening in our health facilities this week does not justify a strike that is deliberately turning on the poorest among us," Heywood said.
" … instead of being an action to advance human rights, it (the strike) has immediately led to a massive human rights and public health crisis, reserved exclusively for the poor, the 85% that rely on the state health system. People are being denied the right to healthcare services, sufficient food, dignity and even life."
" … through intimidation and thuggery some hospitals have been closed, wards emptied of nurses, sick babies left unattended, and patients denied medicines, food and dignity. People are dying directly as a result of the strike."
"One senior black doctor, who has worked for decades in a rural public hospital told us: “A lot of us are sympathetic with the nurses’ demands, but not with their methods. If you are pissed off with the minister, go and occupy his office and stay there like in the old days. Avoid using the most vulnerable people as blackmail. You can’t use the helpless and vulnerable to get your point across. That’s totally wrong.”
While calling for accountability for poor working conditions and pay for healthcare workers, Heywood urged Nehawu leaders, including leaders of Fedusa, Saftu and Cosatu, to "either call this strike off or ensure it is conducted without loss of life and destruction of precious infrastructure".
And in a stinging editorial, Business Day questioned whether Nehawu was a union of healthcare professionals committed to its patients, or a band of hooligans, “because how else does one explain away the lack of compassion its leadership displays for the people its members supposedly serve – the ill, the elderly and the vulnerable?”
Despite a court interdict, Nehawu members kicked off a countrywide strike on Monday, with reports of intimidation preventing staff from entering or leaving health facilities, cancelled surgeries, ambulances barred from entering or leaving hospitals, and many other critical services grinding to a standstill.
The Labour Court in Johannesburg had upheld an interdict to stop the strike after the union had appealed against the interdict first filed on Saturday.
The judgment said the strike would “…cause irreparable harm to the government and affect numerous public services including education, health, police, home affairs, social development and correctional services”, reports Daily Maverick.
“The applicant submitted that the appeal has no prospects of success given that the collective agreement that the union seeks to compel the applicant to conclude would be contrary to regulated measures in the form of public service regulations.”
However, the interdict was ignored and the violent and disruptive protests was condemned by the Department of Health, which reiterated that striking of essential services constitutes misconduct and that the “no work no pay” principle would be strictly applied.
While it said it respected workers’ right to strike, “this shouldn’t affect patients’ access to healthcare or their right to life”, said spokesperson Foster Mohale.
Public sector workers are demanding a 10% salary increase, a R2 500 housing allowance, and for their children to be given bursaries. They have vowed to continue with their protest until their employer “sits down with them at the negotiating table”.
On Monday, Nehawu deputy secretary-general December Mavuso said: “As we promised, the strike has started in earnest and will continue until our demands are met,” reports Business Day.
Meanwhile, hospitals descended into chaos with resulting staff shortages, and a struggle to keep patients alive, reports The Citizen.
Patients were turned away at Lerotong and Helen Joseph Hospitals after the entrance was blocked with burning tyres, and a car set alight, while ambulances were barred from entering or leaving their premises to attend to emergencies.
Gauteng Health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said: “Action will be taken against those responsible for damaging property or endangering the lives of staff and patients. With ambulances unable to attend to emergencies, this is affecting emergency medical services incident response time, and delays in responding to distress calls from the public.”
Yesterday, protesters outside General Justice Gizenga Mpanza Regional Hospital in Stanger, KwaZulu-Natal, attacked a private ambulance carrying a child in a critical condition.
IPSS Medical spokesperson Samantha Meyrick said paramedics had been transporting a child on advanced life support to the hospital when protesters stopped the ambulance, News24 reports.
Protesters reportedly attempted to remove the child from the ambulance and assaulted one of the paramedics, said Meyrick.The ambulance was eventually able to enter the hospital premises, and the child was admitted.
Paramedics were prevented from leaving the property for around an hour, said Meyrick.
Nehawu chairperson at Helen Joseph Hospital Hixani Baloyi blamed the strike on the government’s failure to negotiate with them.
“We are dealing with an arrogant employer who relies on the courts instead of collective bargaining. In 2021, they gave us a gratuity, which is like a bribe, and something that we did not sign for as Nehawu but other unions did,” he said, adding that “last year they offered 3% that they unilaterally implemented without any resolution”.
He said the government has been using employees to hide its failures, instead of fixing the real issues faced by employees.
“If you get inside the hospital, you will see long queues. The government came with a moratorium in terms of filling of posts, (but) they are no longer filling vacant posts, (putting strain on workers),” he said.
According to a doctor who had just finished a double shift at Helen Joseph, medical personnel were unable to attend to emergency cases at the hospital.
She said there was no one to clean the theatres and no porters available to assist with moving patients. The situation was dire, she added, and the lives of patients were being jeopardised.
Medical personnel, who were on duty before the strike, were doing their best to keep patients alive but the situation was becoming increasingly challenging, she said.
At the Middelburg Provincial Hospital in Mpumalanga, security guards downed tools and caused significant disruptions to operations at the facility.
They barred patients and doctors from entering the premises, and nurses had to break a lock to enable patients to enter, reports News24.
Eastern Cape emergency medical services were also heavily affected, with several hospitals and clinics offering only limited services and many patients wanting to collect medication being turned away.
The dispatch of ambulances from the control room at Dora Nginza Hospital in Nelson Mandela Bay was interrupted after control room staff were removed from their workstations, while Livingstone Hospital in Gqeberha stopped all elective surgeries and performed emergency surgery only.
Protesters shut the gates to both Livingstone and Dora Nginza hospitals for a while, but they were later reopened, reports Daily Maverick.
Protesters also burnt tyres on the road in Zwide leading to Dora Nginza, the centre for maternal and paediatric care in the metro.
Just before noon, a memorandum was sent from the head of the Eastern Cape Health Department, Dr Rolene Wagner, giving protesters two hours to return to work, saying that the principle of no work, no pay would apply.
Provincial Health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said four other unions were not joining the strike. He added that law enforcement agencies were deployed to deal with acts of criminality.
Rob Ferreira Hospital in Mbombela was reportedly closed, while Ermelo Regional Hospital in Ermelo was only partially functional.
The Free State Health Department’s spokesperson, Mondli Mvambihave, said the department had “received information that Nehawu had barricaded access and disrupted services at the Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli Regional Hospital and Elizabeth Ross in Qwaqwa, Fezi Ngubentombi in Sasolburg, Boitumelo Hospital in Kroonstad and Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein”.
In KZN, services at Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi and Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Cato Manor, as well as at a number of clinics, also ground to a halt, reports IOL.
Branch secretary at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital Brian Ndlovu said they would continue striking until 10 March, or until their employer “answers demands and revisits the 3% salary hike it has imposed”.
KZN Health HoD Dr Sandile Tshabalala said they were experiencing ongoing disruptions to normal operations, mainly in eThekwini, uThukela and uMgungundlovu districts.
“This has blocked access to various hospitals, hindering access to several facilities…and the intimidation and removal of staff from their posts, and the burning of tyres,” he said.
The emergency medical services in and around eThekwini, and at King Cetshwayo, have reported serious challenges with moving around and transporting patients to and from healthcare facilities, he added.
A doctor at Bloemfontein’s Pelonomi Hospital, who works in the theatre complex, said that on Sunday evening, union members on duty had warned staff to leave the premises before 5am on Monday morning, as the hospital would be locked and barricaded after that.
At midnight, some singing and whistling could be heard from the trauma/Netcare entry gate, he wrote in Daily Maverick.
“People were dancing in front of the gates before they lit two large fires.. the flames died out, things quietened down.”
“At about 4.30am on Monday, the noise started again and escalated quickly; fires were lit at each entrance gate and the protesting groups grew in numbers.” The hospital’s water was cut off. Protesters moved through the hospital and intimidated staff, forcing them to leave by 5am or not get out at all.
“A protester came into the theatre complex and urged us to get out or they would come back to force us out. Panic spread, staff started fleeing.
“The police were contacted… we and our staff prioritised the protection of patients needing emergency surgery. We continued with the few critical and life-threatening cases requiring surgery, with suboptimal staffing and working conditions.
“This continued for hours until the police appeared to have the situation under control and managed to steer the group away and ensured the hospital was safe for … working staff.
“A handful of exhausted staff that remained in our unit stayed for emergency surgical cases until it was safe for our colleagues to enter the premises and take over for the rest of the day, but the hospital’s functioning was already severely affected. Patients suffered, staff were stressed and stretched and the hospital was unable to offer anything close to optimal patient care.”
Another doctor, who has been working almost non-stop at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp, spoke to Daily Maverick on Tuesday morning amid chaos at the hospital as strikers stopped staff from entering.
“It’s actually not a nursing strike,” he said angrily. “It’s a Nehawu strike. Most nurses here are not even Nehawu members. They belong to Hospersa. Nehawu’s members are the cleaners, admin clerks and so on.”
In his WhatsApp message, he said “no nurses for two days, urine bags overfilled, diabetics not getting insulin, routine meds not given, bedridden patients with messed beds not being changed or fed, nurse intimidated so not coming to work, human dignity and rights lost… uncertain how a few doctors can nurse, care and support 400 patients…”
Later, he told Maverick Citizen: “Our patients are not getting their medicines. They are meant to get them four, six or eight hourly or daily.
“…we are not able to monitor patients, which nurses do, and ensure they are getting fluids for dehydration and so on. Certain patients, like stroke patients, need help with feeding, which they are not getting.
“I ask myself why previously black hospitals are always the worst hit. It appears as if nothing is happening, no maintenance, broken equipment and roofs and things are getting worse. That’s a reflection that the previously dispossessed are the currently dispossessed.
“It seems that according to Nehawu, black lives don’t matter. These people they are hurting are the dispossessed.
“A lot of us are sympathetic with the nurses’ demands, but not with their methods.
“If you are pissed off with the Minister, go and occupy his office and stay there, like in the old days. Avoid using the most vulnerable people as blackmail. You can’t use the helpless and vulnerable to get your point across. That’s totally wrong.”
Business Day wrote that the union’s approach “is a stark contrast to that of the UK’s Royal College of Nursing, which last December embarked on its first strike in more than 100 years, implementing a carefully devised plan to protect vulnerable patients and core services. In doing so, they kept public sentiment on the side of their cause”.
“The government clearly has no appetite to rein in a political ally, nor does it seem interested in ensuring hospitals and clinics are provided with the security they need to prevent the havoc wrought by Nehawu.
“While union members are entitled to strike, forcing patients to risk their lives in this way is simply unforgivable. It is no longer a strike, but a hostage negotiation. The state should protect patients, stare Nehawu down and prosecute the offenders.”
The Citizen article – Nehawu strike: Patients at Helen Joseph Hospital told to go home (Open access)
Daily Maverick: Let's-be-clear-the-hospital-strike-must-be-called-off-now/
BusinessLIVE article – Nehawu strike disrupts hospitals, despite interdict (Restricted access)
Business Day article – Nehawu strike puts patients’ lives at risk (Restricted access)
Daily Maverick article – ‘It all started unexpectedly a few minutes before midnight’ — a doctor’s night of hell at Bloemfontein’s Pelonomi Hospital (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Hospital patients, staff hit hard by public sector strike
Maternity unit strike at Dora Nginza Hospital, Eastern Cape, ends
Limpopo health workers suspend strike for two weeks