Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

THE DEPARTMENT of Health has called in the military to help at Dr George Mukhari Hospital in GaRankuwa, which has been crippled by the doctors’ strike.

Last night an SANDF spokesman, Colonel Louis Kirstein, said: “At this stage the department has not requested military assistance at another hospital. We are in contact with them and we will put plans in place if further deployments are necessary.”

Twenty-four military doctors assisted by a group of medical support staff moved into the hospital on Saturday.

A medical officer, Doctor Shaheen Hassim, said they were soldiers first and medical officers second.

“Being deployed here is just part of our duty. We will follow our commands and provide a service to anyone who needs it, no matter how long it takes,” he said.

Captain Rina Smith said being a nurse was the same no matter where she worked.

“It is a vital service no matter where it is required. My work is providing a service and so I enjoy being here and providing people with the necessary care,” she said.

A concerned mother, Dolly Tebogo Molefe, who brought her three-year-old son, Kutlwano, to the hospital, said she was relieved to see that soldiers were at the hospital and could treat her son.

“I am happy that the soldiers are here. They are going to give my son medicine and my son is going to be fine again,” she said.

But there seems to be no relief in sight as the Doctors’ Forum representing striking doctors said yesterday that they would continue to strike in Gauteng despite a court interdict granted in favour of the Gauteng Health Department on Friday barring doctors from participating in what the Labour Court calls an unlawful and unprotected strike.

Last week 26 North West doctors were fired for striking. Yesterday national health department spokesman Fidel Hadebe said the 26 had been reinstated on condition that they did not continue to strike.

The strike is illegal because doctors are part of an essential service.

Health Minister Barbara Hogan has pleaded with doctors to go back to work, but Doctors’ Forum spokesman Rapitsi Malatji the strike would go ahead.

Malatji said the South African Medical Association (Sama) was not willing to listen to doctors’ grievances.

“We have asked them for a meeting… but it seems they have their own personal interest because they do not want to meet with the forum. So we will continue until they acknowledge us,” he said.

Asked if doctors were concerned about the oath they took to put their patients first, Malatji said patients were the responsibility of the government, which was supposed to take care of doctors so they could care for patients.

“We are unappreciated by the government, but we are expected to offer our services. A doctor at entry level gets a basic salary of R7 000 – how can we survive on this? So doctors have to work overtime to earn at least about R10 000. They promised us better working conditions and improved wages – why this is not being sorted out?’ he asked.

It has been two weeks since doctors went on strike over wage increases and improved working conditions.

At the core of the problem is the nine-month delay in the implementation of the occupation specific dispensation (OSD) that has already been paid to nurses.

Government doctors are being underpaid by between 50 percent and 75 percent, according to a study by Sama.

Last week the association distanced itself from the strike, describing it as premature.

This follows the department’s action last Friday to table proposals about the occupation-specific dispensation salary structures and working conditions for public sector doctors, dentists, pharmacists and emergency medical services according to an agreement between the association and the health department.

Health spokesman Fidel Hadebe said should the doctors not adhere to the interdict the court would probably take further measures.

He said the doctors’ actions were regrettable as they put patients’ lives in danger.

Hadebe said the doctors concerned should explain to the public why they had opted for industrial action while the bargaining council was in the process of resolving their problems.

“We are still committed to a speedy resolution of this matter,” he said.

Hadebe said talks were set to continue on Wednesday.