If you have a medical emergency this weekend, don’t bother calling the regular 10177 emergency number, because no-one will answer and no paramedics will respond. Strike action by medical emergency services staff in the Eastern Cape Department of Health began on Monday in East London and had spread to five other districts across the province, including Grahamstown, by Tuesday morning.
If you have a medical emergency this weekend, don’t bother calling the regular 10177 emergency number, because no-one will answer and no paramedics will respond. Strike action by medical emergency services staff in the Eastern Cape Department of Health began on Monday in East London and had spread to five other districts across the province, including Grahamstown, by Tuesday morning.
National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) shop steward in Grahamstown, Mbuleli Gongqa, yesterday dismissed media reports that striking paramedics were back at work. He said they would return to work on Monday, providing they had an agreement from the health department.
“The union met with the department yesterday and the department promised that the agreement would be done by Monday. We will not go back to work if the agreement is not in black and white, because they promise us and we go back to work and those promises are never fulfilled,” Gongqa told Grocott’s Mail yesterday.
Calls from Grocott’s Mail to 10177 went unanswered on Wednesday and yesterday. Admitting that the Emergency Medical and Rescue Services (EMS) paramedics strike had left the community high and dry, health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana said they had an emergency back-up plan.
“We have contracted private ambulances to assist us with people who are in dire situations, but we appeal to people who have means of transport to go and transport their people in the meantime,” he told Grocott’s Mail.
Manana said members of the public should use the number 0800 032 364 for emergencies. This is a general helpline for the provincial government and according to Manana, only three people are attending to emergency calls from throughout the Eastern Cape at any given time. He said they were experiencing high call volumes.
Grocott’s Mail’s call to this number was answered after around a minute and the operator seemed well-briefed to redirect emergency calls.
Earlier this week Gongqa expressed concerns that patients would suffer as a result of the strike, but said the department had left staff with no choice.
“Currently there is no one in the control room. We can’t run away from the fact that members of the community will need help – but no-one is born a rebel. We are forced by circumstances.”
Gongqa said the problem had started when control over the emergency services was moved from municipalities to the provincial department. He said there were salary disparities of “around 30%” between the workers who had moved from the municipalities to the province, and that Performance Management Development System (PMDS) allowances had not been paid since 2007.
The department had agreed on a PMDS allowance for workers, but had failed to honour this. They were also being short-changed on night allowances and public holidays, he added.
“Staff shortages are a huge problem. Employees work overtime and they are not paid. This results in absenteeism – they don’t come to work, as they become sick,” he said.
Manana warned that the strikers would face “consequences” because the strike was illegal. He said they had asked hospitals to keep in the wards patients who were due to be discharged but did not have their own transport.
He said outstanding allowances would be paid. “To date we have already paid R8.1 million and we are still continuing with payments. But we can’t just pay people: we have noticed that there is a huge backlog in PMDS evaluations,” Manana said. The department had received an additional R191m from the Treasury to pay allowances.
Manana said the department had asked Nehawu to speak to the strikers and ask them to return to work.
“We met with Nehawu [Wednesday] and agreed that the employer must draft an agreement and state when are they going to pay all benefits,” Manana said.
“We have also asked the union to plead with their members to go back to work. We expect at least by tomorrow they will be back to work. Some are at work today,” he said yesterday.
