KZN hospital assault probed
2004-09-29 11:37
Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal health department is investigating claims that a doctor assaulted a female worker at the Stanger hospital in Kwa-Dakuza, the department said on Wednesday.
Health department spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo said hospital workers embarked on two days of strike action this week because they felt hospital management had done nothing about the alleged assault.
Jabu Ngubane, an electrocardiogram technician at the hospital, told Sapa a paediatrician assaulted her last week for using a hospital telephone.
Khuzwayo said the strike was called off after a meeting with health department officials, hospital staff and unions on Tuesday.
Khuzwayo said night shift staff were barred from leaving the hospital premises on Tuesday morning and were forced to work until midday by angry protesters who also locked out the day-shift staff. Patients were not affected by the strike.
Khuzwayo denied that anyone had been suspended following Tuesday's meeting, but the hospital manager and paediatrician were not at work on Wednesday.
- SAPA