OFM News reports, a recent Zoom meeting between unions and the Provincial Health Department officials, over the situation at the Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli Hospital in Qwaqwa, lies at the centre of the dispute between the respective parties.
Nine officials at the hospital – including four employees in the Human Resource Department, three doctors and two nurses – have tested positive for Covid-19. Two of them have declined to be placed in quarantine. The PSA alleges Tsiu was unable to provide a detailed report on the situation in the Qwaqwa region with regards to the coronavirus pandemic during this meeting. She instead called on unions to further assist in the department’s efforts.
The PSA has not only blasted this request but further advises its members to avoid contact with the public at health facilities until they are provided with the necessary personal protective equipment and sanitisers.
The Free State Health Department, on the other end, has reiterated some of the points they addressed with regards to a strike at the Senorita Ntlabathi Hospital in Ladybrand this week. The staff there claim they were unaware that they were exposed to a Covid-19 positive patient on Sunday and did not have protective gear available in the facility.
The department’s spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, says “since the first case of Covid-19 at the Manapo Hospital, the management of the Hospital has been transparent about how Covid-19 is managed there”. They now screen staff daily and decontaminate exposed surfaces regularly, like at Ladybrand. Mvambi condemned the employees calling for hospitals to be closed due to active cases. He concluded by saying the department has always acted in the best interests of the patients.
The Free State has a total of 406 cases in the province, with nine deaths reported. By Wednesday there were 162 recoveries.
