Komani Hospital employees downed tools on Wednesday, demanding to be tested and not just screened for Covid-19, after three workers tested positive and had come into contact with some of their colleagues.
Seven of the contacts tested negative, while three others await results.
However, the hospital’s employees who discovered the news accused hospital management of wanting to hide the Covid-19 positive cases from becoming known.
The workers said they were unhappy about the lack of an urgent response to have all employees and patients screened and tested by Wednesday.
The employees were also against management’s plans to conduct mass screening of all staff members and patients at the hospital. They said screening was not 100% proof that a person did not carry the Covid-19 virus.
The patients, who the employees said had been in contact with the nurses who had interacted with one of the positive employees, were another concern.
Nehawu regional secretary Mvuyisi Siko said hospital management had tried to hide this from the union and workers at the hospital.
“The veil of secrecy on this matter will not be tolerated by the union and its members and it was appalling for the management to hide this. We have thus demanded that workers who have been in direct contact be traced and tested.”
Siko added that the union was expecting management of the hospital to begin tests on Wednesday, which did not happen.
After a lengthy meeting on Wednesday between the union and hospital management, it was finally decided that all direct contacts would be tested and the rest of the employees would be screened on Thursday.
Siko said the union had noted the address by the president of the country on Sunday.
“We note that the country will be moving to alert level 3 as from June 1. We also note that the president and the National Command Council on Covid-19 have identified Chris Hani district as a hotspot.
“This has not come as a shock to the union as we have been raising concerns with the MEC of health, Sindiswa Gomba, in bilateral meetings,” he said.
Health MEC’s spokesperson, Judy Ngoloyi, said only the people who were classified as close contacts of people who had tested positive qualified for testing, including those who showed symptoms of the virus.
Ngoloyi said if everyone were to be tested, the department would run out of testing equipment. She added that massive screening of employees which will determine which people need to be tested, based on the results, would take place.
