Standerton – A house in Standerton has been hastily equipped to serve as a hospital ward after striking workers threatened to throw seriously ill patients out of the local state hospital.
The protesters arrived at the hospital on Saturday morning and gave staff until just after midday to remove all the patients, said Pieter van der Westhuizen, owner of Jeria trauma care and ambulance service.
“At least we were able to convince the protesters to give us time until 15:00.”
The house in Paarl Street belongs to Van der Westhuizen and is currently being used by the Generation Changers church as a place of ministry.
With the help of private organisations and nursing staff who are not participating in the strike, Van der Westhuizen’s ambulance service moved 13 patients to the house.
“We were forced to smuggle beds, medication and other equipment from the hospital so that we could equip the house properly.”
The only wards which are still open at the Standerton hospital are the maternity and paediatric wards. However, protesters threatened on Monday afternoon that these wards will also have to be closed by Tuesday afternoon.
- Are you affected? Anything to share?
The protesters arrived at the hospital on Saturday morning and gave staff until just after midday to remove all the patients, said Pieter van der Westhuizen, owner of Jeria trauma care and ambulance service.
“At least we were able to convince the protesters to give us time until 15:00.”
The house in Paarl Street belongs to Van der Westhuizen and is currently being used by the Generation Changers church as a place of ministry.
With the help of private organisations and nursing staff who are not participating in the strike, Van der Westhuizen’s ambulance service moved 13 patients to the house.
“We were forced to smuggle beds, medication and other equipment from the hospital so that we could equip the house properly.”
The only wards which are still open at the Standerton hospital are the maternity and paediatric wards. However, protesters threatened on Monday afternoon that these wards will also have to be closed by Tuesday afternoon.
- Are you affected? Anything to share?
