Sowetan reports that nursing union Denosa has rejected a suggestion by Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku to have Ekurhuleni metro police officers patrol Phola Park Clinic in Thokoza, which was attacked by criminals recently.
On Tuesday, Masuku met with the Ekurhuleni health district and Phola Park Clinic management following a security breach, where people ransacked the clinic while apparently looking for a certain man. The incident forced the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) to withdraw its members from working night shift at the clinic.
Masuku then announced that the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) would patrol the facility at night to ensure patient and staff safety. But the union is not buying it.
“These incidents are happening all the time. EMPD would say they will come but at night they will say they are not baby-sitters. They are saying they are going to patrol but there is a chance they will patrol at 10pm and at 4am in the morning.
“What happens if there is an incident at midnight?” asked Denosa Ekurhuleni secretary Lebo Khumalo.
On Sunday night, three men entered the clinic carrying knives and searched for a man who had been stabbed in an apparent attempt to finish him off.
The men went from ward to ward, damaging property in the process.
The incident happened just a day after three men attacked a patient at the casualty waiting area at South Rand Hospital. “I think even the community members are aware that at night there is just a few female nurses that are there. “People in this area are not going to access health services at night until we are convinced that our members are safe in the facility,” said Khumalo. She said the union would feel safe when there was increased security personnel at the clinic and a security system screening people before they can access the facility. Masuku said the “rising” incidents of violence and “lapse” in security at health facilities was a huge concern for the department. “We will be reviewing our service-level agreements with security companies that are providing services in our institutions,” he said. Meanwhile, City of Johannesburg MMC for public safety Michael Sun has announced that their emergency services personnel will be armed with panic buttons and police escorts would be rolled out to curb attacks on the personnel.
Sun said the department will from now on screen calls from “hotspot areas”, following attacks on emergency personnel recently.
He said in the latest incident, members of the Jabulani Fire Station were attacked in the early hours of Monday.
At the weekend, paramedics were attacked in Cosmo City. “When the crew arrived at the scene and attempted to provide medical treatment to the injured person‚ the ambulance crew was confronted by a mob.
Sun said: “The patient was allegedly injured as a result of a mob justice assault. The mob turned on the EMS ambulance crew when they saw the crew trying to rescue the injured person whom they regard as the suspect. The crew was able to retreat from the scene unharmed but were traumatised. The city’s new ambulance‚ delivered just eight days prior‚ was damaged in the process. In light of the attack on the ambulance crew in Cosmo City‚ we are now screening calls coming from these hotspots.”
The original of the above report by Penwell Dlamini was published on page 8 of Sowetan of 3 July 2019
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