HOSPERSA BLASTS NORTH WEST HEALTH DEPARTMENT AMID CHRISTIANA FIRES
HOSPERSA BLASTS NORTH WEST HEALTH DEPARTMENT AMID CHRISTIANA FIRES
08 JULY 2022
Hospersa, a union with more than 70 000 members (predominantly in the health sector), has criticised the North-West Department of Health for its poor handling of fire incidents which have engulfed two health facility in the Christiana area. This week, Christiana Clinic burnt down while Christiana Hospital remains closed since last year’s fire. Hospersa has vowed to take the North West DoH to task for its snail-pace approach in restoring primary health care services to the area.
Earlier this week, Christiana Clinic in the NW province went up in flames and left community members stranded with limited nearby public health facilities. In addition to its usual services, the clinic was providing medical services and accommodating patients that would ordinarily be serviced by Christiana Hospital, which also caught fire in September last year.
On 17 December 2021, the NW DoH announced that services at Christiana Hospital would be restored with additional capacity by 20 December 2021. Six months later, Christiana Hospital remains closed, and patients are being referred to hospitals that are more than 60 kilometres away. Staff members are still deployed to far away facilities with no update forthcoming since the December announcement. Hospersa has condemned the NW DoH for blatantly lying and dragging its feet in the reopening of the hospital which has compromised the delivery of primary health care in the area.
“The NW Department of Health has failed the people of Christiana,” said Hospersa North-West Chairperson Thandi Mogakabe. “The recent clinic fire has literally collapsed public health services in the area. Patients’ woes of receiving services in overcrowded, far-away facilities will continue while our members’ frustrations on the constant shifting of goal posts regarding their return to Christiana Hospital will escalate. added Mogakabe.
“The NW Health MEC announced on national television that Christiana Hospital will be reopened on 20 December 2021,” said Mogakabe. However, his announcement was only a smoke screen as the date was moved to 01 April 2022. To date, the hospital is still closed with more excuses on the delayed reopening,” argued Mogakabe.
“Hospersa vows to take the Department to task for its poor handling of this matter,” said Mogakabe. “We cannot tolerate maladministration and broken promises at the expensive of our community’s rights to health care services. Furthermore, we cannot allow our members’ rights, to decent working conditions, to disappear in smoke with the fires that engulfed their workplaces,” concluded Mogakabe.
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