‘Mostly locals hired to staff Dr Pixley ka Seme hospital’

THE DEPARTMENT of Health in Kwazulu-natal says the people of Inanda, Ntuzuma and Kwamashu (INK) were prioritised during the recruitment of staff for the Dr Pixley Ka-isaka Seme Memorial Hospital, in Kwamashu.

This after community members recently blocked the entrance to the hospital by pouring soil into the entrance. They were not happy because they said they were not employed at the hospital.

Thembelihle Mpinga said as nurses they would like to be employed at the hospital as she lived close by and was unemployed.

Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said when the posts were advertised, they took into consideration that people who lived near the hospital could be hired. “Community members are hired. We don’t want to find ourselves having to draw up lists to show that people from Inanda, INK and Ntuzuma are employees in the hospital.”

This is a hospital for the province and Durban, not just for Kwamashu only, which means anyone from KZN can be hired, she said. She further warned people from these areas to not allow entrepreneurs to influence them for their own benefit.

“These entrepreneurs do not have the best interests at heart for the community. If people allow themselves to be influenced by them, they would find themselves without a hospital because no healthcare worker would want to be employed in a place where they would be abused every day. These people have medical aids. When they are sick they do not go to government hospitals,” warned Simelane.

No tenders were being issued for catering and cleaning because community members were hired to do that, she said. No security company is hired by the hospital because members of the community serve as security personnel.

“If there are businessmen saying they are not getting any tender from the hospital, what tenders are they talking about? Because during the construction of the hospital, the community members were participating. There are no tenders now,” said Simelane.

Simelane said some people from these areas work in other districts in the province; should they be fired because they were not originally from those areas, she asked.

Simelane further urged the community to not allow this in their community because they would be the ones left without any services.

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