Approximately 1000 Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) members wearing red T-shirts filled the streets of Bhisho yesterday morning singing protest songs and holding placards against the treatment of nurses in the province.Workers arrived at the Dukumbana Building, where the provincial health department sits, before 1pm waiting to hand over their memorandum of grievances to health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi or superintendent-general Dr Thobile Mbengashe. However neither were available. Instead CFO Simon Kaye was sent down but the nurses refused to hear from him, firmly stating that they had written to the MEC and SG and not the CFO.
The crowds accused the MEC and SG of going shopping for outfits for today’s state of the province address and “yet again neglecting nurses”.
The union’s national deputy president Thandeka Msibi was among the crowd.
“Today Denosa is challenging the government based on the failure of government to give us resources,” Msibi said.
“We are saying if they can’t give us resources, then they must close this department.
“If the province thinks we are playing here today we will take these masses to Motsoaledi’s office and make this province our priority.”
Dyantyi arrived at 1.45pm to listen to 30 minutes of grievances from Denosa’s student body and the mother body.
Among their demands are:
l All funded nursing students must be migrated from the bursary system to the Persal system – the Eastern Cape is the only province that has not adhered to this recommendation;
l Establishment of a nursing directorate to deal with nurses issues;
l Improvement of working conditions;
l Conducive learning environment and accommodation for students;
l Continuous skills development for nurses; and
l An annual intake of nursing students at Lilitha College of Nursing.
Khaya Sodidi, the acting provincial chair, said the chronic shortage of staff and working equipment remained unattended to and this compromised the quality of nursing care to patients.
“Nurses are working under dire conditions which expose them to medico-legal hazards. But the fact remains that due to severe shortage of staff, nurses work beyond their capacity and they become exhausted which leads to patient incidents,” he said.
Said Dantyi: “The nurse within me tells me that there are definitely things that need attention. But some things won’t happen overnight. We will have to meet with leadership and discuss the issues.”
She admitted that some of the issues had existed for some time, but that did not mean the department wasn’t doing anything about them. —vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
Denosa members protest over working conditions
Workers arrived at the Dukumbana Building, where the provincial health department sits, before 1pm waiting to hand over their memorandum of grievances to health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi or superintendent-general Dr Thobile Mbengashe. However neither were available. Instead CFO Simon Kaye was sent down but the nurses refused to hear from him, firmly stating that they had written to the MEC and SG and not the CFO.
The crowds accused the MEC and SG of going shopping for outfits for today’s state of the province address and “yet again neglecting nurses”.
The union’s national deputy president Thandeka Msibi was among the crowd.
“Today Denosa is challenging the government based on the failure of government to give us resources,” Msibi said.
“We are saying if they can’t give us resources, then they must close this department.
“If the province thinks we are playing here today we will take these masses to Motsoaledi’s office and make this province our priority.”
Dyantyi arrived at 1.45pm to listen to 30 minutes of grievances from Denosa’s student body and the mother body.
Among their demands are:
l All funded nursing students must be migrated from the bursary system to the Persal system – the Eastern Cape is the only province that has not adhered to this recommendation;
l Establishment of a nursing directorate to deal with nurses issues;
l Improvement of working conditions;
l Conducive learning environment and accommodation for students;
l Continuous skills development for nurses; and
l An annual intake of nursing students at Lilitha College of Nursing.
Khaya Sodidi, the acting provincial chair, said the chronic shortage of staff and working equipment remained unattended to and this compromised the quality of nursing care to patients.
“Nurses are working under dire conditions which expose them to medico-legal hazards. But the fact remains that due to severe shortage of staff, nurses work beyond their capacity and they become exhausted which leads to patient incidents,” he said.
Said Dantyi: “The nurse within me tells me that there are definitely things that need attention. But some things won’t happen overnight. We will have to meet with leadership and discuss the issues.”
She admitted that some of the issues had existed for some time, but that did not mean the department wasn’t doing anything about them. —vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
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