SA’s cops are ‘fat, sick and stressed’
THE COUNTRY’Spolice are sick and obese, prompting police deputy minister, Maggie Sotyu to call for drastic measures.
Sotyu, who spearheaded the police wellness programme meeting at the Gugulethu police barracks yesterday, described the police state of health as “bleak” after it was revealed that 75 percent of screened police officers are obese.
At the meeting, which discussed the police employee health and wellness programme, Sotyu and the police management heard that not only were police obese, but they had other lifestyle diseases including hypertension, diabetes, and cholesterol. As a result many were often absent from work.
Terrance Govender, head of health for Metropolitan Health, an administrator of the police medical aid scheme Polmed, said of over 53 000 officers screened for different health problems, 75 percent were found to be obese, 42 percent had high blood pres- sure while 21 percent were on the borderline or had high cholesterol – putting them at risk of cardiovascular diseases and kidney disease among other health problems.
Govender said police missed work for an average of 15 days each a year, with diabetes keeping many away for about 31 days a year. High cholesterol resulted in members taking an average of 29 days, hypertension contributed to about 16 days of absenteeism while depression kept officers off work for an average of about 28 days.
Substance abuse was a major problem among police officers, resulting in absenteeism of about 36 days a member.
Alarmed by the figures, Sotyu said if the status quo didn’t change the police could not continue to fight crime appropriately.
“We can’t expect them to fight crime if their health is in such state. The picture is bleak. A lot needs to be done.”
Sotyu said she had noticed there was not enough support from police management to get the police healthy. She also blamed senior managers for the poor living conditions, saying the police barracks were often not conducive to police work.
She said if MPs could get well furnished homes, why couldn’t police?
“This place is dirty… it’s not being maintained. It’s like a pig sty. The security is also the main problem… anyone can walk into this building any time they want, putting the lives of police at risk.”
Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant- General Arno Lamoer blamed attacks on police by community members as factors that contributed to the police’s poor health and stress levels.
Between April last year and last month, 526 provincial police officers were physically attacked, and 10 officers were killed in the line of duty.
Lamoer said the stress of witnessing the attacks on their colleagues and having to investigate these cases while living in the same communities was putting strain on many police officers.