HEALTH workers at Thelle Mogoerane Hospital are worried about cross infections.
According to the workers at the hospital in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng health MEC is to blame for a bad situation that is brewing.
However, the hospital and the MEC’s office denied the allegations.
Workers claimed the hospital no longer had dedicated wards and patients with different conditions were all being put in the same wards.
They claimed that the hospital management was instructed not to leave any bed vacant by the MEC in July. They said the only wards that were not affected were the intensive and high care unit.
“A patient with burn wounds is placed next to a patient who had just had a caesarean. A patient with TB is placed next to a patient with a broken leg. It is just a mess,” said a nurse.
“We have tried to raise this with management but we are told nothing can be done because it’s an instruction from the MEC,” said the worker.
The MEC’s office said: “It is important to note that the MEC, as an executive authority, is not responsible for the day-to-day running of hospitals and would, therefore, not be responsible for clinical decisions.”
Hospital spokesman Joseph Monaheng said there was an overflow of patients in the accident and emergency units.
“To alleviate this challenge, the hospital admits patients to available beds in the wards while carefully considering infection prevention and control measures.
“The MEC has never given an instruction about how to accommodate the patient overflow,” he said.
