DENOSA Uitenhage Provincial Hospital

A nurse was brutally attacked and staff threatened at a provincial hospital in Kariega. Photo: Pexels

DENOSA weighs in on attack at Uitenhage Provincial Hospital

DENOSA says the Health Department is failing to ensure the safety of healthcare workers following an attack at Uitenhage Provincial Hospital.

DENOSA Uitenhage Provincial Hospital

A nurse was brutally attacked and staff threatened at a provincial hospital in Kariega. Photo: Pexels

The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in the Eastern Cape says it views the attack of yet another nurse inside Uitenhage Provincial Hospital in Kariegaas a further dismal failure by the department to ensure the safety of healthcare workers. due to the continued reduction of costs towards the protection of the workplace.

On Sunday, 21 August, a nurse at Uitenhage Provincial Hospital fell victim to a vicious attack by a relative of a patient who was brought to the facility after he sustained a gunshot wound on Sunday morning. 

DENOSA SLAMS HEALTH DEPARTMENT FOLLOWING ATTACK ON NURSE

According to DENOSA, female nurses in the trauma unit, who were on duty, were forced by the friends of the patient to carry the patient from the car that they had brought him with.   

Upon pleading their case that they would be unable to carry the patient, and asking the friends to carry him into the facility, one of the friends punched and kicked the female nurse.

DENOSA said it has been pointing out the deficiencies of outsourced security by the department as they have failed in every possible angle to protect both the employees and patients inside facilities. 

DENOSA Uitenhage Provincial Hospital
A nurse. Image: Pixabay/Victoria_Art

The perpetrators reportedly drove away after attacking the nurse, they made further threats that should anything go wrong with the patient, nurses will pay the price for it.

The union said to prove how porous the security is in many facilities, the perpetrators were driving in a black Ford Fiesta, but security tools of trade like cameras, which could have assisted a great deal in revealing their identity, are not there. 

“Nurses fell victims in vain. This is nothing but a further failure by the department to do the basics right.”

Meanwhile, on Monday it was reported that night staff at the hospital are too scared to report for duty. This necessitated that patients, doctors as well as one of the armed guards to be diverted to Laetitia Bam to ensure service continuity. This was in relation to new trauma cases.

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