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The Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa) in Gauteng has called for tighter security measures at health institutions after an angry patient allegedly threw urine at nurses who were sitting and eating in a canteen.
It was reported that the patient, who was at Calcot Dlephu Clinic in Tsakane, Ekurhuleni, had been waiting to be attended to for about four hours. It is alleged that the incident happened last Friday.
Before throwing urine at the three staff members, the angry man allegedly said:
Simphiwe Gada, Denosa's provincial chairperson, said the incident was yet another sign of how poorly nurses and other healthcare workers were protected by their employers.
“Where was security when this incident took place? There are reasons patients are waiting for a long time in queues and most of those reasons are beyond workers’ control and fall in the hands of management,” he said.
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He said this was yet another form of gender-based violence because one wonders if it was a group of men who were sitting there would this patient have reacted in the same manner, or did he do that because he thought he could get away with it since the employees were women?
He added:
Gada called on the MEC and HOD of the department of health and wellness in Gauteng to ensure that the wellness of the employees was prioritised, and they expected that the employees would have, at the very least, received counselling.
Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko said the conduct was inhumane and vulgar and she had directed the department to investigate and establish the facts around the incident to determine a course of action.
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“Irrespective of the complaint the member of the public might be having against the health workers, this cannot justify the attack against them. It is uncalled for, and we condemn this vulgar act in the strongest possible terms,” she said.
She added healthcare workers across the province had found themselves under attack from communities in recent times where some had even been robbed of their belongings and in other instances, the attacks end up with patient care being severely hampered, resulting in the loss of life.
“I appeal to communities to work with us to end the attack on healthcare workers. On our part, we made a commitment to ensure that we improve the patient experience of healthcare facilities,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
