- Public servants have downed tools in all nine of South Africa’s provinces today. Union members affiliated with the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Federation of Unions of South Africa and the South African Federation of Trade Unions are marching to the national treasury’s offices in Tshwane. Protests will also take place in the eight other provinces and at hospitals and ports.
- Among unions’ requirements are a 10% increase in wages, increases in housing allowances for public servants and bursaries for government staff who earn too much to qualify for the state-run National Student Financial Aid Scheme for university students, but who still can’t afford tertiary education for their children.
- Our reporter Jesse Copelyn is inside South Africa’s biggest hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, where doctors arrived at work this morning to find they would have to take on the nurses’ responsibilities on top of their own. Follow along for live updates.
[THREAD] Our @JesseCopelyn is at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Johannesburg during SA’s third national #publicserviceprotestof 2022. Follow along for live updates here. #NationalDayofAction pic.twitter.com/pYRN0iW5Ep
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
An (anonymous) intern doctor arrived at Bara work this morning to find most nurses were a no-show. The only 2 nurses he could see were there in plain clothes so that they could dodge intimidation. #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Union members had apparently been threatening violence against nurses who don’t strike, he says. #NationalDayOfAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Patients queueing at Bara’s outpatient department were outraged when they were shown the door after nurses left. People often wait months for an appointment. #publicserviceprotest #NationalDayOfAction https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
The doctors left behind at Bara were told they have to take over the nurse’s responsibilities for the day. That would include tasks such as administering medication and feeding patients, changing bed-pans, etc.#publicserviceprotest https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
“It’s not possible,” our intern doctor says, “we don’t even know where the medication is kept, and it’s often under lock and key”. #publicserviceprotest #NationalDayOfAction https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
“Everyone’s very stressed,” he says. Bhekisisa’s intern doctor source left the hospital around 10h30 upon instruction from his supervisors, who said they would help as many patients as possible before leaving as well. #publicserviceprotest https://t.co/HKbOhgEJZ4
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
So what’s behind the #publicserviceprotest? Unions and workers affiliated to @_cosatu, @SAFTU_media & @FEDUSAMedia will march to @TreasuryRSA’s offices in Tshwane. #NationalDayOfAction. https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
This march in Gauteng will be accompanied by protests in the 8 other provinces, including at hospitals, ports and government institutions. #publicserviceprotest https://t.co/HKbOhgEJZ4
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
“Our workplaces will become points of struggles up until Government comes to its senses.” a @NEHAWU statement reads. #NationalDayOfAction. https://t.co/HKbOhgEJZ4
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
.@NEHAWU’s Nkolonzi says its demands include a 10% wage increase and the permanent employment of community health workers who currently work on a contract basis. #publicserviceprotest Read more about #CHWs ongoing fight here. https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Other #NationalDayofAction demands include an increase in the housing allowance to R2500 for public servants and bursary schemes for children of public servants who are too rich to benefit from #NSFAS funding but too poor to afford tuition. https://t.co/D1xtwcTvqC
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
BREAKING>> All surgeries & scans cancelled for today at SA's biggest hospital Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital amid the country's third #NationalDayOfAction of 2022. Our reporter @JesseCopelyn is inside the facility. https://t.co/D1xtwcTvqC
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Doctors inside Bara say admin clerks are also on strike so patients also aren't getting hospital numbers, which they need to do labs, blood tests, order drugs, etc. https://t.co/D1xtwcSXB4 #NationalDayOfAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Bara was "a ghost town" this morning, a second intern says. There were just 1 or two nurses around. A union member was patrolling the hallways to see that nurses weren't working. (picture taken by the intern) https://t.co/D1xtwcSXB4 #NationalDayOfAction pic.twitter.com/pKoeFCcFPr
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Health workers prepping for surgery were chased out and threatened. Surgeons left, an intern doctor says. https://t.co/D1xtwcTvqC #NationalDayOfAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
How is this affecting patients? Patients aren't being observed. No food is being delivered. There's no certainty whether patients will be fed throughout the day, or whether people will be monitored throughout the night. https://t.co/D1xtwcTvqC #NationalDayOfAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
An intern says the effect on patients is "a time bomb". The longer the services are stopped, the more problems will pop up. The sickest people will suffer the most." https://t.co/D1xtwcTvqC #NationalDayOfAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Those interns and doctors left at the hospitals were told to "do what they can" to help patients. https://t.co/D1xtwcSXB4 #NationalDayOfAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
What does it feel like to be an intern at Bara during #NationalDayOfAction? Frustrating, this intern says: "There's this expectation that you'll just keep doing more and more." https://t.co/D1xtwcSXB4
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
This morning around 6am, nurses were locking themselves inside the wards for safety. A third intern says she saw @NEHAWU members walking around to monitor whether nurses were working. #NationalDayOfAction https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Stable patients are being sent home, the third intern says. She worries that people who came to Bara for chronic medicines and were turned away won't come back again to get their pills. #NationalDayOfAction https://t.co/HKbOhgEJZ4
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
All medical students were sent home this morning in case #NationalDayofAction becomes violent, intern doctors say. https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
In the surgery ward, an intern doctor says: "I'm a nurse, I'm a plumber, I'm a cleaner, I'm an admin clerk, I don't know what to do." https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Clarification: Only non-urgent elective surgeries are cancelled. That includes people booked in for C-sections that don't need to happen for the next 3 or 4 days. Those were pushed back and patients were sent home. https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Doctors are running Bara's obstetrics entirely by themselves in the absence of nursing & admin staff. https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Only one theatre is running at Bara's obstetrics section. Usually, there are two surgery theatres running in obstetrics around the clock. It means that surgeries are being delayed by 2 hours. https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Some people in the obstetrics ward who are scheduled for a c-section have gone into labour before doctors can get them into a theatre. https://t.co/HKbOhgEJZ4 #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
No patients have been endangered, an intern doctor says. It's just that everything is taking long. Doctors aren't trained to mix medicines for instance (nurses do that), so they're spending time googling how to do that & checking vitals https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
If the strike goes on tomorrow, he cautions, the backlog of patients will be harder clear quickly. Patients might sit in the wards waiting for surgery for days longer than they have to. https://t.co/HKbOhgEJZ4 #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Bara's gynaecology unit has closed its outpatient department. No new patients are being accepted. The antenatal clinic is also closed. https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
We're delivering babies in the admissions wards, usually, they would be moved to a labour ward. 15 babies were delivered in the admissions ward since this morning, the obstetrics intern says. https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
Doctors are already tired and unsure how to fix the situation. "You go into autopilot. I can only see & help patients as they come." https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w #NationalDayofAction
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
That's a wrap for our @JesseCopelyn's live reporting from inside Bara during #NationalDayofAction https://t.co/HKbOhgEc9w
— Bhekisisa (@Bhekisisa_MG) November 22, 2022
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