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WEDNESDAY 15 MAY 2013 WWW.EXPRESSNEWS.CO.ZA
Members rise up
} Joanie Bergh
DESPERATE members of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) and the South African Medical Association (Sama) marched to the Tshwaragano Hospital in Batlharos, Kuruman. Doctors, nurses and members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) were among those who participated in the march in an effort to call for better conditions in healthcare facilities at the hospital. The march also marked the official launch of the Positive Practice Environment (PPE) campaign. Sibongiseni Delihlazo, communications manager of Denosa, says the aim of the campaign is to provide enough supplies of medicine and equipment, enough financial resources to ensure better service to patients and adequate support for health workers. “When things go wrong in a hospital people are quick to say it is because of negligence of the healthcare workers. But sometimes it is purely because of a lack of resources in the hospital for the workers to do their job properly.” The Tshwaragano Hospital is the second largest hospital in the province with 214 beds, although it has a delapidated infrastructure. Delihlazo says due to its poor condition the hospital faces the risk of being declared unfit to operate. “Underneath the wobbly building structure of the hospital are patients whose hopes of getting healed are dissipating away, as well as nurses and doctors whose potential to heal patients is being barred by a lack of enough and functional equipment and resources to treat patients,” he says. The hospitals’ fate is now dependant on a task team set up by the Health MEC, Mxolisi Sokatsha. The team will coordinate the campaign and work together with a monitoring and evaluation team in order to bring forth a change in the conditions of the hospital. Anthony Vassen, provincial secretary of Denosa in the province, says through the campain Denosa, Sama and the Department of Health will work together to address several complaints made by the community and healthcare workers in order to find lasting solutions. “One of the issues that has already come to the surface was the non-availability of
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Call for better conditions in healthcare facilities
ambulances at the hospital.” Vassen assured workers that the department was already working on changing this and ensured that more ambulances would be provided. He says Denosa has committed itself to continue giving support to the hospital and will monitor the progress during the course of the campaign.
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TOP: Doctors, nurses, hospital staff and members of the SANDF marched from the Batlharos Library to the Tshwaragano Hospital.
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VARIOUS doctors and student healthcare workers participated in the march in a call for better work ing conditions. Photos: Joanie Bergh
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