NEHAWU Eastern Cape Statement On The Termination Of COVID-19 Healthcare Workers
Wednesday March 10, 2021
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) in the Eastern Cape Province has learned with shock the decision taken by the provincial Department of Health to issue letters of intention to terminate the contracts of COVID-19 healthcare workers by the end of March 2021.
As NEHAWU in the province, we have held numerous engagements with the Acting Head of the Department of Health, Dr Zungu, to discuss the future and retention of the COVID-19 healthcare workers but all our attempts were in vain. We have constantly warned the department that the shortage of funds caused by the exorbitant claims of Medico Legal Cases should be put squarely on the shoulders of the responsible managers.
The people of the Eastern Cape cannot be made to suffer because the department fails to practise financial prudency with its budget allocation. Furthermore, we have always had a problem of understaffing which was exacerbated by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. It is in this regard, that we find the termination of the contracts of these workers to be unacceptable and not in touch with reality. The coronavirus is still killing our people while many still need hospitalisation and medical attention. With the third wave expected in the next two months we find it bizarre that the department would see it fit to relieve the healthcare system of much needed manpower.
Both KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have managed to extend the contracts of the healthcare workers and we strongly believe that the Eastern Cape should follow suit and retain these workers to unburden our already overstretched healthcare system. The Eastern Cape still has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the country and more needs to be done to save the lives of our people and we believe the first step would be to ensure that we retain these workers to continue to perform the critical services they have been rendering in various healthcare facilities across the province.
NEHAWU will not stand idle while these workers are mistreated by the department and we will raise this issue sharply with the newly appointed MEC for health, Nomakhosazana Meth. The termination of healthcare workers does not bode well for the imminent implementation of the National Healthcare Insurance. These workers should serve as the core of our primary healthcare which must focus on preventative care.
We welcome the appointment of the new MEC for health and hope that we will have a productive relationship which will benefit our members, workers and the people of the Eastern Cape at large. Furthermore, we also welcome the appointment of the new MEC’s for Human Settlement and Rural Development and Agrarian Reform. We also hope that we will work hand in hand with them to improve service delivery in the province.
Issued by NEHAWU Eastern Cape Provincial Secretariat
Miki Jaceni, at 082 455 2745