‹’Š‘ˆƒ‡‹ —”•‡• ™ƒ– •‡‹‘” ”‡‘˜‡†
MBABANE – Health workers at Siphofaneni Clinic have petitioned their employer over a senior staff member who they accuse of ill-treatment.
They also alleged that the senior staff member had threatened to stab and kill a support staff member.
The nurses want the senior staff member to be removed with immediate effect.
They say the anomaly brought about by the senior staff member has been going on since 2016. According to the health workers, the senior staff member also allegedly verbally abused them in front of patients.
In the petitioned signed by over 16 health workers, in 2017 the senior staff member allegedly assaulted a clinic employee who was pregnant. She eventually had a miscarriage.
She is also alleged to be ill-treating all non-governmental staff and threatens to call their superiors with the hope of firing them, some of which were already jobless. The health workers also accused the supervisor of delaying to forward the communication of key messages from the region and the Ministry of Health, including workshops and uniforms.
They further accused her of locking cleaning and maintenance equipment of the clinic, including towels, toilet papers, detergents and stationary. They also alleged that she shared confidential information with unauthorised persons.
Director of Health Services Dr Velephi Okello confirmed receipt of the complaints and said the relevant office in the ministry had taken action.
Okello said the office was looking at the next step to be taken. She said the ministry was concerned about the seriousness of the allegations.
Meanwhile, the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union Secretary General, Mayibongwe Masangane said the grievances were reported in their office at regional level. Masangane said the regional executive, together with the Lubombo Clinic branches were still handling it.
When asked on possibilities of the senior employee’s removal, following irreconcilable differences, he said, the matron had powers to do such, by redeploying the employee.
Masangane said the allegations could warrant redeployment as they wanted the service delivery at the clinic to be professional and that the employee relations must be improved.
“Maybe, when redeployed, the manager could perform better in a hospital setting than a clinic,” the SG said.
Furthermore, he said the ministry also needed to investigate what other underlying problems the manager was undergoing in order to be assisted.
Masangane said now that the workers had petitioned the branch and region, they should explain the grievances when engaging with the matron.
He said they needed to address the differences between the nursing staff and the supervisor.