Work safety issues worry paramedics
PARAMEDICS at Kwamashu Polyclinic are concerned about not being given enough personal protective equipment (PPE) after one of their own recently tested positive for Covid-19.
They were also worried about the quality of sanitisation of the property.
This week many of them gathered at the clinic saying they feared being exposed to people they help in emergencies and then exposing their own families to the virus.
National Public Service Workers’ Union provincial organiser Sifiso Dlamini said last week they learnt a paramedic had tested positive for Covid-19. The woman’s close colleagues were apparently told to take leave after the results came out.
Others became worried after the Department of Health did not communicate with them about what had happened.
“The workers want to get tested to ensure they are not carrying the virus. They also want the place to be decontaminated as this was an area where their colleague worked.”
Dlamini said the department did send someone to clean the clinic, but the person was not approved and only did general cleaning. “We asked the department to resolve this without us having to go on strike,” he said.
Dlamini said they had not been given PPE of a high quality. “It’s not only the workers in danger, but the patients they work with, as the workers don’t know whether or not they are carrying the virus,” Dlamini said.
The union informed the district director and the clinic’s management about their fears.
A paramedic, who did not want to be named, said he was worried he could end up spreading the virus to his family and his patients. “We use the same toilet, same microwave, couches and everything,” he said.
Kwazulu-natal Legislature Health Portfolio Committee chairperson Nomakiki Majola said she talked to the district manager of the polyclinic and was told that they had followed all the regulations to deal with the situation.
She said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize had addressed the matter of PPE once he was alerted about the shortages in the province.
“Everyone is provided with PPE as it is. Every place has been thoroughly sanitised and the clinics have also been thoroughly cleaned.”
She suspected the paramedics’ complaints were motivated by “ulterior motives” as the department had performed all of its core functions.