The Citizen reports that the Gauteng Department of Health has expressed its dismay at the actions of a group of staff members at the Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital who briefly disrupted services on Tuesday.  

In a statement, the department noted that the strike was illegal and ignored the current lockdown regulations which prohibited public gatherings.  It also stated that the service disruption affected various areas of the facility, “including the usual multi-disciplinary teams’ morning visits to patients, which could not be undertaken as employees were locked outside the facility.”  Apparently, union members did not raise any of their concerns with management prior to the strike.  But, concerns allegedly raised by some staff members were lack of social distancing and that hospital management had kept information about Covid-19 infections from them.  The department confirmed that one staff member at the hospital had tested positive for the virus.  The hospital management has since opened a case against those involved in the strike “for locking the gate and denying staff to serve patients and for damage to property after a doctor’s car was damaged.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at The Citizen

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