23 NURSES IDLE AT MATSANJENI HEALTH CENTRE

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.

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