THE two horror hospitals had already been the subject of investigation following alleged negligence and claims of young mums dying while giving birth.
Yesterday the problems were worsened when nurses at Port Elizabeth’s Empilweni TB Hospital and Dora Nginza Hospital complex in Zwide downed tools and demanded that the hospitals’ CEO steps down.
Dora Nginza Hospital was in the spotlight earlier over alleged negligence of patients while Human Rights Watch also investigated the deaths in the hospital’s labour wards. Nurses yesterday accused the CEO of poor management and said he lacked a nursing background. At Empilweni, nurses complained that they were being forced to ferry the dead from wards, contracting diseases.
Spokeswoman for the nurses, Zandile Mbinda, said: “We are tired of working like slaves. We are forced to ferry the dead to the government mortuary. Porters have been sent to do office work. These problems start with poor management. Our CEO lacks a health background. We have been complaining about it but nothing happened.
“Due to this chaos, two staff nurses have contracted multi drug-resistant TB. All our lives are at risk. We only have three doctors and when we need them we can’t find them.”
Eastern Cape Health spokesman Siyanda Manana said: “I’m not aware of the protest. I’m in a meeting in East London, but we do have a programme to employ people. I will get back to you later.”
