The National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) says if Tuesday’s planned strike by labour union NEHAWU is not averted, South Africans will not know the number of COVID-19 infections in the country.
The NHLS says this could negatively affect government’s efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The planned strike comes over a salary negotiation dispute between the two parties. Spokesperson Mzi Gcukumana says the NHLS has put in place contingency measures to ensure service continuity in the event of the strike. He says the Labour Court today declared the strike to be unlawful.
Court order below:
In a statement, the NHLS Spokesperson Mzi Gcukumana says if the NEHAWU strike goes ahead the following will happen.
“The government will have limited or no information regarding where the relevant hotspots for COVID-19 are. Private laboratories would not be able to report their COVID-19 infections as required by the relevant Disaster Management Regulations. The NHLS, through its National Institute for Communicable Disease division, will be unable to compile a guideline document to support surveillance, case finding, diagnosis, management and public health response to cases under investigation. In addition, many South Africans may not be able to get tested for COVID-19, which will have an impact on the epidemic.”
