Stop putting health workers at risk

Imagine for a moment you are a nurse or doctor — for this exercise, this is aimed specifically at our readers who do not work in the medical field. You wake for work every day, preparing for what is best described as a battlefield and unsure if you will survive the war. Your job is to serve the sick, the infirm and the injured. Yours is a very hands-on job. You view every person you come across as a potential threat because this Covid-19 virus attacks everyone; it does not discriminate.

And as you prepare for the battle, you lack the necessary equipment to protect yourself.

You’re afraid — you need to work, but at what cost?

It is when you begin to put yourself in the shoes of the health workers that you begin to understand the genuine fear they have, particularly those in the public sector, of going to work.

Many articles and opinion pieces have been written about personal protective equipment, and in some cases the lack thereof, but for workers it is more than just a mask, gloves or aprons — it is to provide them with a sense of security.

It says to them they are doing all they can to protect themselves from this war against a vicious virus.

Yesterday, this newspaper reported on the threat by staff and union representatives to close the Zwide Clinic, fearing for the health and safety of staff.

They said several staff had been infected with Covid-19 and they felt it would be a health hazard for the clinic to remain open.

“Zwide Clinic workers have a serious shortage of personal protective equipment,” Saftu provincial secretary Mziyanda Twani said in an interview.

“We wear one mask for the entire day and there are more than 500 patients coming in and out from different communities each day.”

Thousands of people are processed at the clinic every week, most of them sick people.

It was, therefore, incumbent on the department of health to immediately close the facility and ensure a deep cleaning of the building when the first staff member tested positive.

Allowing it to continue as if it is business as usual for weeks was highly irresponsible and put thousands of residents’ lives at risk.