Union acts against Mkhize
Nehawu takes health minister to court for not providing protection for health workers
FRONT-LINE health-care workers working on the coronavirus pandemic in the public sector are beginning to down tools as the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) has instituted legal action against Health Minister Zweli Mkhize with the case expected to be heard at the Labour Court today .
The trade union is accusing the Department of Health across the nine provinces of forcing health-care employees to work on Covid-19 cases without personal protective equipment (PPE) and endangering their lives in the process.
Yesterday, health-care workers downed tools at Dora Nginza Hospital in the Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB) metro, Eastern Cape, over the lack of PPE.
The NMB is the metro hardest hit by Covid-19 in the province and the hospital saw one of its doctors being infected by the virus.
In court papers, Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha says the union has, since the announcement of the nationwide lockdown, observed frontline workers operating under circumstances that expose them to the disease without the necessary protective gear, which included gloves, face masks, face shields, gowns, aprons, hair covers, respiratory protection and goggles, among other things.
This, he said, was despite the rise in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases from 61 on March 15 to 1655, with health-care workers being among those infected.
“While the minister has publicly pronounced that the safety of healthcare workers is a priority and that they should be issued with PPE, it’s also a matter of public record, including admissions by government, that not all health-care workers who require PPE are in fact issued with what is required,” Saphetha said.
He maintained that workers were nonetheless required to continue performing their duties despite the dangers they faced.
Nehawu is asking the court to direct the Department of Health not to compel front-line health-care workers to render services without the required PPE and not to subject workers to disciplinary action or any other unfair treatment for refusal to carry out their functions in the absence of the protective gear.
“The relief claimed is necessary to mitigate the real risk of infection and the safety of employees, including members of Nehawu and members of the public they come into contact with,” Saphetha said.
The union also accuses Mkhize of having failed to develop and issue guidelines or protocols for rendering of services without the appropriate PPE in a manner that mitigated the risk of infection.
“For each day that this continues, thousands of employees and members of the public are at grave risk,” Saphetha said.
He said Mkhize had also continued to snub repeated calls by the union for engagement on the complaints by endangered workers.
Mkhize is not the only government official facing the wrath of the union. Nehawu also slammed Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, who is listed as the third respondent in the papers, for failing to ensure compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act within the public health-care system.
Nehawu said it had not received papers from the departments by yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile the Department of Health appears to be silent on the legal action as Mkhize’s spokesperson, Dr Lwazi Manzi, had failed to respond to questions sent to her at publication time.