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"title": "A doctor’s plea – ‘If you are pissed off with the minister, go and occupy his office’",
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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The WhatsApp landed early on Tuesday morning:</span>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strike still on!!!</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pts had no nurses for 2 days</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Urine bags exploding (overfilled)</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diabetics not getting insulin </span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Routine meds not given </span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bedridden pts with messed beds not being changed or fed</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a travesty </span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nurses intimidated, so not going to work</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Human dignity and rights lost</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We require urgent assistance ensuring safety of staff entering hospitals to provide services</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uncertain how a few docs can nurse, care and support 400 pts</span></i>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/img-3330/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1597902\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG-3330.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"418\" /></a> A few nurses are attending to patients at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla</p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Later, the Tshepong Hospital doctor spoke to </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maverick Citizen </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Editor Mark Heywood:</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Our patients are not getting their medicines. They are meant to get them four, six or eight hourly or daily. Fortunately, the pharmacists are helping us to package medicines in a way so that the doctors can administer them to patients. For example, we have to mix IV meds, but we haven’t mixed IV meds in our lives.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/img-3377/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1597907\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG-3377.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"483\" /></a> Dirty blankets hanging and rubbish not collected at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital.Photo: Felix Dlangamandla</p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“But still we are not able to monitor patients, which nurses do, and ensure that they are getting fluids for dehydration and so on. Certain patients, like stroke patients, need help with feeding which they are not getting.</span>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<strong>Visit <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=in_article_link&utm_campaign=homepage\"><em>Daily Maverick's</em> home page</a> for more news, analysis and investigations</strong>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Fifth-year medical students are helping. </span>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read in </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick:</span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> </span></i><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-06-nehawu-strike-continues-despite-second-interdict-leaving-health-facilities-reeling/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nehawu strike continues despite second interdict, leaving health facilities reeling</span></i></a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">”</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read in </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick: </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-06-wage-strike-hammers-health-services-across-the-country/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wage strike hammers health services across the country</span></i></a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">”</span></i>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I ask myself why previously black hospitals are always the worst hit. It appears as if nothing is happening, no maintenance, broken equipment and roofs and things are getting worse. That’s a reflection that the previously dispossessed are the currently dispossessed.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It seems that according to Nehawu, black lives don’t matter. These people they are hurting are the dispossessed.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We begged our nursing colleagues to keep the wards open. They were amenable, but the provincial and national Nehawu people are not allowing any compromise. I bet they don’t use the public health system themselves.</span>\r\n\r\nRead in Daily Maverick: <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-07-nehawu-strike-too-early-to-call-in-army-minister-says-as-hospitals-buckle/\">Too early to call in the army, Health Department says as hospitals buckle under violent protests</a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It’s actually not a nursing strike. It’s a Nehawu strike. Most nurses here are not even Nehawu members. They belong to Hospersa. Nehawu’s members are the cleaners, admin clerks and so on.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/img-3402/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1597911\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG-3402.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"460\" /></a> Dirty linen in the passages at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla</p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“A lot of us are sympathetic with the nurses’ demands, but not with their methods. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“If you are pissed off with the minister, go and occupy his office and stay there like in the old days. Avoid using the most vulnerable people as blackmail. You can’t use the helpless and vulnerable to get your point across. That’s totally wrong,\" the doctor said. </span><b>DM/MC</b>",
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"name": "Dirty linen in the passages at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 7 March 2023. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)",
"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The WhatsApp landed early on Tuesday morning:</span>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strike still on!!!</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pts had no nurses for 2 days</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Urine bags exploding (overfilled)</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diabetics not getting insulin </span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Routine meds not given </span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bedridden pts with messed beds not being changed or fed</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a travesty </span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nurses intimidated, so not going to work</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Human dignity and rights lost</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We require urgent assistance ensuring safety of staff entering hospitals to provide services</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Uncertain how a few docs can nurse, care and support 400 pts</span></i>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1597902\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"720\"]<a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/img-3330/\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1597902\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG-3330.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"418\" /></a> A few nurses are attending to patients at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Later, the Tshepong Hospital doctor spoke to </span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maverick Citizen </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Editor Mark Heywood:</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Our patients are not getting their medicines. They are meant to get them four, six or eight hourly or daily. Fortunately, the pharmacists are helping us to package medicines in a way so that the doctors can administer them to patients. For example, we have to mix IV meds, but we haven’t mixed IV meds in our lives.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1597907\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"720\"]<a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/img-3377/\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1597907\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG-3377.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"483\" /></a> Dirty blankets hanging and rubbish not collected at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital.Photo: Felix Dlangamandla[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“But still we are not able to monitor patients, which nurses do, and ensure that they are getting fluids for dehydration and so on. Certain patients, like stroke patients, need help with feeding which they are not getting.</span>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<strong>Visit <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=in_article_link&utm_campaign=homepage\"><em>Daily Maverick's</em> home page</a> for more news, analysis and investigations</strong>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Fifth-year medical students are helping. </span>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read in </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick:</span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> </span></i><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-06-nehawu-strike-continues-despite-second-interdict-leaving-health-facilities-reeling/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nehawu strike continues despite second interdict, leaving health facilities reeling</span></i></a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">”</span></i>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read in </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick: </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-06-wage-strike-hammers-health-services-across-the-country/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wage strike hammers health services across the country</span></i></a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">”</span></i>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I ask myself why previously black hospitals are always the worst hit. It appears as if nothing is happening, no maintenance, broken equipment and roofs and things are getting worse. That’s a reflection that the previously dispossessed are the currently dispossessed.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It seems that according to Nehawu, black lives don’t matter. These people they are hurting are the dispossessed.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We begged our nursing colleagues to keep the wards open. They were amenable, but the provincial and national Nehawu people are not allowing any compromise. I bet they don’t use the public health system themselves.</span>\r\n\r\nRead in Daily Maverick: <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-03-07-nehawu-strike-too-early-to-call-in-army-minister-says-as-hospitals-buckle/\">Too early to call in the army, Health Department says as hospitals buckle under violent protests</a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It’s actually not a nursing strike. It’s a Nehawu strike. Most nurses here are not even Nehawu members. They belong to Hospersa. Nehawu’s members are the cleaners, admin clerks and so on.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1597911\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"720\"]<a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/img-3402/\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-1597911\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG-3402.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"460\" /></a> Dirty linen in the passages at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“A lot of us are sympathetic with the nurses’ demands, but not with their methods. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“If you are pissed off with the minister, go and occupy his office and stay there like in the old days. Avoid using the most vulnerable people as blackmail. You can’t use the helpless and vulnerable to get your point across. That’s totally wrong,\" the doctor said. </span><b>DM/MC</b>",
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A few nurses are attending to patients at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla
Dirty blankets hanging and rubbish not collected at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital.Photo: Felix Dlangamandla
Dirty linen in the passages at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp on 07 March 2023, NEHAWU members are picketing outside the hospital. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla