Some essential workers at Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, have downed tools – claiming they have not been provided with adequate protective equipment. This includes technicians, artisans, general workers, cooks and laundry staff.
The workers say they no longer feel safe and are only provided with a single pair of gloves and a single mask per day.
In the video below, is a report on allegations that six nurses have contracted COVID-19 in KZN:
National Education Health and Allied Workers Unio (NEHAWU) Provincial Secretary Mieki Jaceni says they have appealed to the relevant departments to release employees who are not provided with adequate protective equipment.
“We have now written a letter to the MEC, to exercises her powers in terms of the occupational health, to prohibit the performance of those duties that are endangering and risking the health and safety of our members. That our members must be provided by PPEs (Personal Protective Gears) and the MEC must provide to all the areas concerned. We have given the MEC two days to respond. Failure to do that we are heading to the high court.”
In the video below, hospitals are concerned about the shortage of protective equipment:
