GroundUp reports that doctors and other health workers picketed outside the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto on Thursday, calling on the provincial department of health not to dismiss more than 800 staff members recruited during the Covid pandemic.
The 819 posts will be scrapped from 31 March. The group of about 50 was joined by about 100 members of the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw), who were picketing against the scrapping of their contracts. They were employed at Chris Hani Baragwanath and other hospitals as part of the Extended Public Works Programme. In a statement released on Wednesday, the Chris Hani Baragwanath Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) said ending the posts would put a strain on an already under-staffed hospital. They said the increase in patients at the hospital due to Covid had been compounded by the addition of patients from Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, following a fire that broke out there last year. The posts include health workers and administrative staff. The provincial department of health has also failed to pay contractors. This has affected waste management and the feeding of patients at the hospital, prompting medical staff and members of the public to bring food for patients. One bread supplier claimed he was owed R1.5 million by the department and had not been paid for four months.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Masego Mafata at GroundUp
- Read too, Gauteng health department denies food shortage at hospitals, but admits bread did run out, at TimesLive
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