Daily News reports that nurses in various KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) public hospitals boycotted uniforms after the health department’s failure to pay their uniform allowances on time.  

The allowance should have been paid in April but was not because of an administrative bungle.  The department made a verbal commitment on Monday to pay the allowance by the end of July.  But, a nurse at King George V Hospital said they would have none of it because payment of this allowance had always been late.  The Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) confirmed that they did not accept the department’s verbal undertaking.  Sibonelo Cele, Denosa provincial chairperson, said on Monday they adopted a “no uniform” stance, after having waited since April for the allowance.  A departmental official said the nurses’ grievance was valid, but should not encroach on patients’ rights to be able to identify nurses who attended to them.

• Read this report by Chris Ndaliso in full at Daily News

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