North West Health MEC Madoda Sambatha has raised concerns about the passing away of health workers due to contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19). So far four health professionals, among them doctors and nurses, have died in the province.
A total of 200 healthcare workers across the North West are reported to have tested positive for COVID-19, 103 have recovered.
Safety of healthcare workers is under the spotlight:
The Health MEC says they’ve lost key staff members.
“It’s a very serious situation where we have to lose key responsible staff members. We are losing nurses, doctors and allied workers in the same. The more we lose, it’s very difficult to replace because healthcare workers are almost a scarce commodity. If it were to be according to our own need, we should not have health workers being infected.”
Sambatha says non-compliance to lockdown regulations are a contributory factor to the rapid increase in the number of infections in the province.
“One of the areas where we have a serious problem; it’s the impact of funerals and the impact of public meetings like parties and all organised sessions. First, these meetings don’t comply at all. Secondly, they have an element where people misbehave.”
ICN calls for better treatment of healthcare workers:
