Patients fend for themselves as Eastern Cape hospital staff protest over Covid-19

Patients were left high and dry when Zithulele Hospital staff in Mqanduli  in OR Tambo district downed tools on Wednesday after a standoff with management over the Covid-19 crisis.

According to the protesting healthcare workers, there had been 17 confirmed cases at the hospital.

A staffer, who spoke on behalf of the striking workers, said they were dissatisfied with the way hospital management had handled the situation.

“The building has not been fumigated and the management is refusing to test all the workers. Our clinical manager told us that we know nothing about the virus because we are not scientists when we raised these issues​,” she said.

The staff member said the protest action was a last resort as they did not want to put patients' lives at risk. However, she said, the lack of co-operation from their bosses had pushed them over the edge.

“We are not happy at all. We want the management to address the challenges we are currently facing,” she said.

Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo had not responded to request for comment at the time of publishing.