Nurses ‘overworked’

Nurses and workers affiliated to the Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union marched to the national department of health and Treasury’s offices in Pretoria on Wednesday demanding better working conditions and permanent employment for nurses hired during the Covid pandemic.

Noni Ledwaba, a nursing sister at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, said there were only five nurses at night, exacerbating an already excessive workload.

“We want the health department to provide extra hands for us. They must employ more nurses. We are overwhelmed.

“During the pandemic, some operations were stopped and now they are continuing and there is a strenuous backlog,” she said.

Ledwaba said resources were so stretched at the hospital that patients often had to sleep on beds without linen and “there are no bandages or sutures”.

She said the department must make funds available to address the crisis.

In their memorandum of demands, the nurses asked for the department’s budget to be increased and for workers hired during the pandemic to be employed.

They also want the department to fund further training of registered nurses.

The department’s Maile Ngake promised the minister’s office would respond within seven days, adding: “Sometimes we are not aware of how much workers are suffering.”