A newly-appointed nurse was raped last week en-route to a night shift at Madumane Clinic in Tzaneen, when a man dragged her into the bushes and assaulted her after she had alighted from a taxi.
The traumatised woman managed to crawl to nearby households for help and was admitted to hospital with a broken leg and other injuries, reports TimesLIVE.
Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba and the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) have condemned the incident.
The nurse had apparently asked the taxi driver to drop her at the clinic, because it was dark, but he had refused.
Denosa Limpopo secretary Jacob Molepo said after the driver refused to drop her close to the clinic, a male passenger had disembarked with the nurse and apparently told her he would accompany her as he lived in the area.
“He said he would take her on a ‘shortcut’ so they could get to the clinic quicker and avoid dangerous areas in the township. The nurse followed him, but he then dragged her to a dark spot, raped her, and took her belongings before fleeing.”
Ramathuba said cases like this were a serious setback in the department’s efforts to open clinics for 24 hours.
“These issues of gender-based violence and rape are a terror for society…at this rate, we will struggle to get skilled personnel to work in some of our facilities, because of the risks.
“We have just employed an army of nurses, with most placed in primary healthcare facilities with the intention to restore the 24-hour function, but issues of crime on healthcare workers have been a big threat,” she said.
Meanwhile, Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko yesterday said there have been 61 attacks on Gauteng healthcare workers at the province's facilities since the beginning of the year, mostly by mental health patients, according to a TimesLIVE report.
Responding to questions at the Gauteng provincial legislature, Nkomo-Ralehoko said others incidents related to anger towards staff for various reasons, such as refusal to buy them items, patients trying to escape, angry relatives and patients linked to criminal activities.
“The attacks range from incidents where staff members were bitten, punched, hit on the face, robbed, or assaulted. These led to patients either being sedated, restrained, transferred to other wards or facilities, or being secluded and, in some instances, cases being opened with the police,” she said in her response.
The majority of the incidents happened at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital (21), Carletonville Hospital (nine), Far East Rand Hospital (nine), Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (seven), Thelle Mogoerane Hospital (four) and three at Kopanong Hospital, with other facilities accounting for fewer or no incidents.
Nkomo-Ralehoko said the department continued to take measures to equip staff to deal with attacks and to reduce them.
The measures included training staff on responding to aggression and violence. Others include improving the profiling so that attending staff have access to patient history and are aware of underlying conditions; continuous psychological and emotional support; and counselling to staff.
Some measures included the installation of CCTV cameras at strategic locations for monitoring purposes.
“Our goal is to minimise if not eradicate such incidents in our facilities.”
TimesLIVE – More-than-60-attacks-on-staff-in-gauteng-health-facilities-so-far-this-year/
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