POLITICS

Gauteng hospitals under siege - Jack Bloom

DA MPL says strikers' actions are endangering lives

The DA condemns the blockading of hospitals in Gauteng that is endangering the lives of patients and intimidating staff who wish to work.

I visited five hospitals today where the situation ranged from bad to worse.

Both Rahima Moosa and Helen Joseph hospitals are under siege, with patients and staff prevented from going in.

Police informed me that Leratong hospital has also been blockaded.

There have been clashes between police and striking workers  outside the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, but many hospital staff are still attending to their duties there.

At the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital strikers had to be escorted off the premises. Surgeons have been told to use their discretion as to whether there are sufficient staff to carry out scheduled operations.

The worst situation is at Natalspruit hospital on the East Rand where 53 babies were evacuated early this morning to the Garden City and Park Lane private hospitals. The army has also been called in to provide nurses and doctors, and to secure the entrance as there are aggressive demonstrators. I saw relatives who needed army assistance to remove bodies of loved ones from the mortuary.

Very few staff are on duty at the Tambo Memorial hospital (also on the East Rand), with demonstrators at the entrance. It is so bad there that strikers pulled out assistants from an operating theatre, leaving Dr Zoltan Risko to finish off the operation on his own with an anaesthetist.

It's all a very unhealthy situation that is likely to deteriorate further if this strike continues.

Blocking entrances is totally unacceptable. Hospitals are an essential service, and the right to strike needs to be exercised responsibly.

Tough action is needed by the police and the army to ensure that hospitals are able to provide at least minimal care without threat of violence.

Statement by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, August 19 2010

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