Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital CEO Gladys Bogoshi on Thursday laid bare the devastating effect the ongoing health workers’ strike had on the hospital, especially on Wednesday when things took a violent turn.
Workers affiliated with National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) are on the fourth day of their indefinite national strike, which has disrupted services at healthcare facilities.
Since Monday, Nehawu members have been protesting at health facilities and departments across the country demanding a 10% wage hike.
On Wednesday evening, the Gauteng department of health obtained a court interdict at the Johannesburg labour court against Nehawu to stop its members from obstructing health services. Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape have also successfully applied for the same orders.
Health minister Joe Phaahla and Gauteng health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko on Thursday morning visited Charlotte Maxeke and Helen Joseph hospitals to assess the strike’s impact on both facilities and thanked health workers who have continued working despite the personal risk.
Both briefed the media afterwards, where they gave an update on the situation and outlined plans to deal with the backlog of cases created by the strike.
Phaahla condemned the protesters’ obstruction of services to patients, urging the police to remove the culprits while confirming they would take disciplinary action against guilty employees.
He confirmed that four people so far had died, likely as a result of the strike.
“We’re still doing a reconciliation in the province and nationally in terms of the number of people ... We have a legal team we are consulting to look at our options in that regard,” he said before adding that the principle of “no work, no pay” was in effect and that the money would not be docked over a period of time.
Nkomo-Ralehoko confirmed that contingency measures were in place across the province to address the backlog of cases.
Bogoshi gave a harrowing account of how the protests affected the various wards on Wednesday, with doctors and nurses forced to take on the additional roles usually done by support staff.
In casualty, Bogoshi said the hospital was unable to receive any patients because ambulances were barred access.
“We already had a situation where our casualty was full, with four patients on ventilators and about 26 not on ventilators but very sick.
“The difficulty was that when you come in as trauma, you need to have your X-rays done. So the radiographers were not allowed in, and therefore ... we were unable to do their radiological examinations.
The maternity ward was not left unscathed, with Bogoshi detailing the difficulties personnel had in helping mothers give birth.
“Unfortunately, when you work in theatre you do not need a nurse and a doctor only, you need the operators who must wash the instruments and the porters to move the patients.
“I must say that our clinical team who managed to come in, became cleaners [and everything else] to ensure that ... [they were there to help] the mothers who had to deliver.
She added 61 elective operations had to be cancelled and four emergency ones prioritised. Compounding the issue was the shortage of linen, because staff was absent and bedding bloodied by birthing mothers went unwashed.
An earlier visit to the maternity ward painted a grim picture, with assistant operational manager Poppy Nkambule detailing the ward’s challenges over the past two days.
“We came early, but there was obstruction. We were denied access, but about 12pm we managed to come through,” she said of Wednesday’s issues, adding that Thursday was going much better, with the exception of the bed shortage.
The site of expecting mothers either resting on benches or seated across the ward bore testament to that.
Bogoshi said the hospital usually received 1,800 outpatients, of which 1,200 went to the facility’s 52 clinics, but because of the strike, they only attended to “about 10 if not 15%” of these.
“The difficulty is that they were allowed in, but the clerks who must register them and pull their files were not. Even if the doctor is here, if he doesn’t have the file there is absolutely nothing they can do. The outpatients had to be given other dates.
Among the worst hit were the cancer patients, who had to be turned back because the staff helping with medication, blood tests and radiation were denied access to the premises.
“When it came to critical care, we run about 84 ICU beds. There were only two nurses to [take care] of all those patients. Remember they are all on ventilators. The interns and the doctors had to become nurses to do routine procedures. Unfortunately ... they had about six resuscitations that they had to do,” he said.
A visit to two wards, accidents and emergencies and paediatrics by TimesLIVE Premium revealed the protest’s impact on services.
The operational manager of the paediatric ward said while there were no issues on Thursday morning, they had to sneak in on Wednesday to treat their young patients and had to do their best to help a critically ill five-month-old child.
“I’m not sure who scrubbed in, eventually they did the operation, and that child was saved. I went to check at 6.45pm, and they told me that the child was OK during the day,” she said.
It was a similar situation at Helen Joseph, with staff members revealing they were overwhelmed with patients and could not take in any more people. They revealed that protesters stormed the hospital on Wednesday and made it to the third floor, but they were caught and removed from the premises.
CEO Dr Relebogile Ncha said the absence of support staff meant doctors and nurses had taken over their duties.
“Luckily in the kitchen we are covered, we are able to cook and provide food,” she said.
A stern Phaahla told the police to ensure no striking workers blocked patients from accessing the hospital, because their actions were illegal.
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