Times Of Swaziland: 23 NURSES IDLE AT MATSANJENI HEALTH CENTRE

23 NURSES IDLE AT MATSANJENI HEALTH CENTRE
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Melisa Msweli on 22/08/2022 08:31:00


NHLANGANO – At least 23 nurses, whose contracts were recently renewed by
government, are lying idle at Matsanjeni Health Centre without work as the wards
were closed on April 1, 2022.
The decision to close the wards was taken when the contracts of the nurses who
were deployed there came to an end and they had to go home. It was gathered from
sources within the health facility that the agreement was that the facility
would reopen the wards on August 1, 2022, but this is yet to happen. It was also
gathered from sources that there were at first 10 nurses posted to the health
facility around mid-July and 13 others were deployed beginning of August but the
facility has not opened the wards.
Clock
Information sourced was that the nurses who were supposed to work in the wards
would clock at the different duty rooms in the wards and ‘disappear’ to
their houses as the day progressed. Sources revealed that some would busk in the
sun until they clocked out for the next shift to do the same. On Tuesday, there
was a meeting which included the management, doctors, nurses and orderlies to
discuss whether or not the wards should be opened and it was concluded that they
were to remain closed. According to sources, the reasons given included that
there was a shortage of ambulances, an issue raised by the doctors, who said
there was a need for an ambulance. “The facility had its own ambulance and it
was taken to Nhlangano CTA for service and if never returned as it was later
reported that its computer box was stolen,” said the source. The other reason
given was the  shortage of at least three or four orderlies, according to the
sources.
Orderlies
The sources further said the one who represented the orderlies in the meeting
narrated that there were currently 11 orderlies and of them, two were sickly
hence there was a need for at least three or four of them so that the rotation
cycle would flow once the wards started operating. It is worth noting that all
this hits hard on the civilians’ pockets who when they need to be closely
monitored, have to hire a cab to Hlatikhulu Government Hospital, which is the
closest health facility. It was gathered from the taxi operators that a round
trip cost at least E1 000 to Hlatikhulu from Matsanjeni when discounted and the
normal price ranged between E1 300 to E1 500. “There are at least five people
on average who need close monitoring that come to the health facility each
day,” said the sources. This means that there are estimated to be over 600
people who had to be transferred to Hlatikhulu between April 1 and yesterday.
This, they said, included women who were having pregnancy complications, those
from maternity who wished to deliver and those who had chronic diseases. None of
the health facility management members wished to speak to this publication but
referred all questions to the Ministry of Health. When called for comment,
Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula said the information this
publication had was accurate and known to them. He said they were, however, not
aware of the issue pertaining to the orderlies and did not recommend that a
health facility could not operate wards because of the shortage of three or four
orderlies yet there were 11 of them available.
Management
“That is a management issue that needs to be sorted swiftly as we want the
facility to operate the wards because our priority is for the people to be able
to access services,” remarked Magagula. He said he received a report of the
meeting that was held on Tuesday and it came around lunch-time last Thursday in
his office. On the issue of ambulances, Magagula said most facilities were
without ambulances and that did not mean they should not operate. He said there
were alternatives to transport patients, including 977 ambulances, which were to
be called if there was need for help. He stated that he was working on it and
that they were hoping that the issue would be sorted soon.