Go-slow strike at psychiatric hospital

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MANZINI - National Psychiatric Referral Hospital patients’ morbidity is at risk of getting worse as nurses have engaged in a go-slow strike action of a patient who had been diagnosed with TB.

Sources within the hospital said the concern of the nurses was that the hospital administration was refusing to transfer the patient who had been diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), yet believing that he was stable, meaning he could be transferred to a TB facility.

They said the patient in question was diagnosed with TB about a fortnight ago and they informed the administration about it. They said they also proposed that the patient should be transferred to a TB facility where he could receive medication until the disease had become non-communicable.

The insiders said nurses’ made the proposal to have the patient transferred because they feared that those who were not stable, could have contact with him and contract the disease.

ConCern

The sources said the concern of the health practitioners was that it could spread to other departmentsin the hospital, something which could put them at risk of contracting it too since they do not have protective equipment for TB.

“Even though the patient had been isolated, it is not safe for the others and staff because the facility is not equipped to accommodate people with TB. For example, the facility does not have extractor fans,” the inside sources said.

They alleged that when the nurses recommended that the patient should be transferred to a TB facility since their assessment suggested that he was stable, the administration turned down their proposal on claims that the he was unstable. They said during the go-slow strike, including attending to patients at their own pace. When they were asked about the duration of their go-slow strike, the insiders said according to the nurses, it would go on until proper actions were taken regarding the patient. In fact, they said the health practitioners threatened to escalate it to another level if the administration continues to ignore their recommendation of transferring the patient.

TesTed

On another note, they said according to the nurses, at the referral hospital, they accommodate patients with TB, but after they had been tested and the text results show that the disease could no longer be transmitted to the next person.

The Director of Health Services, Dr Vusi Magagula confirmed that there had been a go-slow as a result of that matter. However, he said he was yet to receive an incident report. He said it would be the incident report that would clarify issues.

On another note, the director said he also knew that the ministry authorised training on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), which explains how infectious cases were to be handled.

He said to him, this was part of the response to this case in question.

Magagula added that he would comment further after reading the report, which he was still waiting to get from the management.