Eastern Cape health workers may be sent home if personal protection equipment shortage worsens

Facing a threat of a “no-touch” instruction to nurses and mounting union pressures and legal threats, the Eastern Cape Department of Health on Monday 6 April said all personnel working at hospitals will now be classified according to the infection risks their jobs hold to determine what personal protection equipment they need.

Clinical staff have been raising their concerns over a lack of personal protection equipment in state hospitals in the province for a few weeks following the outbreak of coronavirus in South Africa.

To prevent coronavirus infections, healthcare workers are advised to wear gloves, N95 masks and a face shield or goggles. Personnel are also being issued with aprons.

At 11am on Monday 6 April the regional secretary for the nurses’ union Denosa, Khaya Sodidi, said they had received reports from health facilities across the province that nurses and other health workers were being issued with masks, aprons and gloves.

The Eastern Cape MEC for Health, Sindiswa Gomba, said they were discussing the possibility of sending all but absolutely essential workers home if the crisis gets worse so that they have enough personal protective equipment to protect their clinical staff. She said they had received another batch of masks and other personal protective equipment on Monday afternoon. 

“We are finding a way to distribute these,” she said.

“The most important thing for us is that there is enough hand sanitiser,” Sodidi said. “We are happy now.”

He said the union was supportive of Gomba.

The Eastern Cape regional secretary for Nehawu, Miki Jaceni, said they were monitoring the situation.

Oversight meetings held in the week of March 10 to determine the province’s state of readiness had raised the potential problem of personal protective equipment and that hospitals did not have the budget to stockpile.

On Monday, Gomba said there was not enough personal protective equipment in the province.

“It is a supply problem,” she said. “Our stock is under stress.”

She said they heard the very legitimate fears of the frontline staff and had responded by creating categories of jobs to determine what personal protective equipment will be issued to individuals.

By lunchtime, the staff at one of the province’s biggest regional hospitals, Dora Nginza Hospital, were protesting about the shortage of personal protection equipment. Doctors and nurses, who asked to remain anonymous, said that they struggled last week to even access hand sanitiser and soap.

A doctor and a nurse who work at this hospital last week tested positive for the coronavirus. The Eastern Cape Health Department said they were not infected while working at the hospital.

“When we watched the footage of the protest,” Gomba said, “we discovered that the nurses were protesting while wearing aprons and masks.”

She said the protest was triggered by a misunderstanding about the categories of personnel and who would qualify for personal protection equipment.

“We have cleared it up now,” she said.

“We have enough for the clinical staff. We only have a few patients in hospitals and the staff looking after them will be protected. The rest of the patients are in self-isolation at home.” 

According to the latest figures released by the Department of Health, the Eastern Cape now has 31 patients who tested positive for the virus.

Last week the Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, said they were engaging with the major labour unions in the health sector over shortages of personal protective equipment.

“We have engaged the unions Cosatu and Nehawu on the matter of personal protective equipment. We share their concerns because they raise issues relating to our own staff who are of utmost importance to us during these challenging times. 

“We are collaborating with all local and international stakeholders to ensure that PPE continues to be manufactured and that the supply chain is not interrupted by various lockdown regulations between territories.” DM