Unemployed nurses protest at Health Dept
Members of the Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (Ynitu) caused havoc and blockaded entrances of the Department of Health as they demanded MEC Phophi Ramathuba's attention during a lunchtime march to the departmental headquarters on Monday.
The group of more than 500 unemployed nurses from the province and as far as Gauteng and Free State is demanding the MEC’s removal, immediate absorption of community service professional nurses and employment of qualified nurses to assist in curbing the high nurse to patient ratio the province is experiencing. The protesters refused to hand over copies of the memorandum to the Chief Director for Human Resource Development, Mikateko Tlakulo as they demanded Ramathuba’s attention.
On Tuesday, union President Lerato Madumo stressed that they could not hand over copies of the memorandum to the department because Ramathuba did not pitch. Madumo stressed that while they were still waiting outside the premises, the Police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. According to her, scores of protesters suffered minor injuries while three others had to spend a night at the Pietersburg Provincial Hospital with serious injuries.
Madumo added that they are planning to approach Premier Stan Mathabatha to seek his intervention before escalating the matter to national government as she alleged that Ramathuba was incompetent: “Ramathuba has dismally failed the health fraternity in the province. She has ignored some of the most down trodden communities and subjected them to unnecessary untimely deaths and adverse events by failing to employ adequate staff after using tax payers' money to train them.”
Madumo added that the union cannot sit back and watch the healthcare system continue to be butchered by those who have to protect, promote and uphold its principles of excellence and integrity and to ensure that everyone access quality health care.
Departmental spokesperson Neil Shikwambana said the Police had to protect the rights of employees by ensuring that those who were illegally camping at the gate of the department and holding employees hostage were removed.