Nurses work in fear after violent attacks at clinics
THE safety of primary healthcare workers at Eastern Cape clinics is under the spotlight following two recent incidents where staff were threatened.
A nursing assistant, who asked not to be named out of fear of victimisation, narrowly missed being knifed yesterday at a clinic in Vergenoeg. She said she was busy with patients at Alphendale clinic when she heard screams and a commotion in the clinic’s yard.
When she got outside, she witnessed a young man and old woman in a knife-wielding verbal altercation, with a baby caught in the middle.
She said while everyone moved away out of fear of being attacked, she drew closer in an attempt to move the baby out of danger. On seeing this, she said the man turned on her.
“After getting the child safely to its mother, I tried to stop the man from going after the old woman.
“That’s when he turned on me and said he’d stab me for interfering in his issues.”
The assistant, who was still visibly shaken when the Daily Dispatch visited her home, said the altercation happened in full view of clinic staff, patients and children who were there for immunisation.
She said she did not feel safe anymore at her working premises.
“How are we going to deliver quality services when our lives are in danger,” she asked.
There are currently no security guards working at the clinic, apart from those working to keep the premises secure overnight.
In another incident, an admin assistant at a Fort Beaufort clinic has opened a case of verbal assault against a patient, after the patient came in on two occasions last December and verbally attacked him.
“The first time she found me on my lunchbreak, laughing with a colleague, and she swore at us, calling us explicit names. When she came back the second time, she once more berated me.”
The two health employees have called on the Department of Health to strengthen safety at clinics.
Department of health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the department was in the final stages of a new tender for more security personnel.
“The safety for our employees is our concern and we put every effort into ensuring their security.” —