GroundUp reports that Eastern Cape health care workers whose contracts were not renewed last December have warned that this will put pressure on already stretched permanent staff.

About 100 workers affiliated to the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) met on Sunday at Dan Qeqe stadium, Gqeberha, where they aired their grievances. The workers were hired soon after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Department of Health Mkhululi Ndamase confirmed that the contracts of 2,749 workers had not been renewed in December, 2021. “The department would have loved to extend the contracts of the healthcare workers but this was not possible because of serious budgetary constraints. We started the current financial year with a R4.4 billion shortfall,” Ndamase explained. Affected workers advised that they had received letters informing them that their contracts would not be renewed. Some will leave at the end of January and others in March. Saftu Gqeberha leader Mzikazi Nkatha said the failure by the department to renew contracts of health workers was affecting the morale of permanent staff who were overworked. “Our health facilities have been operating under skeleton staff even before Covid-19. We are going back to a very serious situation of staff shortages. The non-renewal of contracts will directly affect delivery of services to patients. We have been engaging the department but little progress has been achieved,” Nkatha pointed out. Spokesperson for Gqeberha-based Emergency Medical Services workers Sikho Makeleni said the situation was even worse with ambulances, with few workers available to respond to emergencies.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Joseph Chirume at GroundUp

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page