BusinessLive reports that more than 150 health care workers have tested positive for Covid-19 at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, according to the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa).
The union, which is affiliated to the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) and represents more than 60,000 private and public health-care sector workers, on Tuesday called on government to shut down the facility — SA's second largest hospital — “to prevent a catastrophe from happening”. On Tuesday, Hospersa provincial chair Gerald Lotriet said Tygerberg Hospital had the “direct potential of becoming the major breeding ground and killing field for Covid-19”. Emilia Maloi of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) in the Western Cape said: “Tygerberg Hospital is a breeding field for Covid-19. Our staff are anxious, they are fearing for their lives. These are front line workers who are bread winners and the government is not looking after them. Such facilities must be shut down. We are sitting on a time-bomb.” Other public health-care facilities across the country have temporarily closed for deep cleaning after staff tested positive, underscoring the risk many front line workers face in their line of duty. In April, St Augustine's Hospital in Durban was shut down after more than 60 people tested positive for coronavirus, with close to 50 of those positive having been staff members.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page