PARAMEDICS TO DOWN TOOLS, APOLOGISE TO NATION

MANZINI - As they are in a battle for their welfare, paramedics have extended an apology in advance to the nation for the disaster that will happen from tomorrow.

Paramedics are personnel from the emergency medical services (EMS), who are under the Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) Department in the Ministry of Health and due to some challenges they face in their line of duty; they have decided to revoke Section 18(2) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 2001 from tomorrow. 

The above Act says; “An employee shall have the right to remove himself or herself from danger when such an employee has reasonable justification to believe there is imminent and serious risk to the safety and health of that employee.”

Statement 

They made this statement through their trade union; the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), during a press conference which was held at the union’s conference room yesterday afternoon.

NAPSAWU President Oscar Nkambule said as a union, they want to see emaSwati receiving proper service delivery from government and they advocate for such by encouraging their members to work hard. He said they also expect the employer to also play its role.

However, Nkambule said their members in the EPR department have been facing challenges and government was not doing anything about it. He said this was despite the fact that they had engaged the administration several times about the challenges.

He said the challenges included non-payment of overtime allowances that were being owed to the workers, non provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and victimisation among others.

“Therefore, from Wednesday (tomorrow) emaSwati will not be getting assistance when they call the EMS toll free emergency number; 977 because the personnel would have removed themselves from the workplace which poses danger to their lives,” the president said. He said their members would not work until government responded positively to their concerns. In that regard, he said the duration of their ‘stay away’ would be determined by government’s responses. 

The trade unionist said the EMS personnel would report for work because they were not on strike, but would not work because of the imminent danger of working without PPE among other things. 

Situation 

Nkambule said they had lost a number of their members due to COVID-19 and many of them, including paramedics, contracted the virus and they could not allow a situation that exposed them to it. 

“So, we are sorry to the nation for what is going to happen from tomorrow in terms of services from the EMS,” the leader of the union said.

On the same note, NAPSAWU Secretary General Thulani Hlatshwako said it was the union’s right to protect its members. He said they would not watch as their members die, instead, he said they would protect them and would not allow them to work in a dangerous work environment.

He said the issue of COVID-19 was part of the agenda item in the joint negotiation forum (JNF) and they warned government about the second wave of the virus, but seemingly, it ignored the warning. 

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