BLOEMFONTEIN – Following the fire that broke out at National Hospital in Bloemfontein on Sunday afternoon, which forced the services to be temporarily suspended pending an investigation, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in the Free State calls on the provincial Department of Health to set up health and safety committees at the hospital and in other facilities as a matter of urgency to prevent the recurrence of a similar disaster in the future.

This will ensure that all healthcare institutions comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) for the safety of both patients and healthcare personnel. DENOSA deems it a miracle that no life was lost nor were there any injuries when the institution does not have Health and Safety Committee in place. 

DENOSA pays special tribute to all the healthcare workers who worked tirelessly to ensure that all the 83 patients at the facility were accounted for during this disaster situation, and that they were all sent to various healthcare facilities successfully. 

Equally, DENOSA calls on the Department to ensure that all the healthcare personnel undergo a psychosocial support as they are both emotionally and psychologically disturbed by the incident. We also call on the Department to include unions in the deployment of staff to various facilities, as this process entails the change in the conditions of work for the workers.

Some nurses will be taken further away from their places of residence during this deployment to various facilities and will thus incur extra costs.

Ways of ensuring that they do not incur extra costs from their pockets must be explored so that they are not punished financially for the incident that they didn’t cause. 

While the investigation on what led to the fire is still underway, DENOSA deems it necessary to voice out its unhappiness over the incident, and in advocating for the patients, which has eventually led to the total closure of services altogether except for few services like eye care and oncology that are rendered in the building adjacent to the hospital block.

With Health and Safety Committee in place, issues like unobstructed emergency exits, fire detectors and alarms inside various units of the facilities will be ensured and championed, including regular safety drills for the staff so that everybody knows what to do during the time of emergency.

DENOSA calls on the newly-appointed MEC of Health in the province to ensure that Health and Safety structures are established in all facilities, as a matter of urgency. That’s where the issue of compliance with OHSA begins.

End.

Issued by the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in Free State.

For more information, contact:

Brian Motshabi, DENOSA Free State Provincial Secretary.

Mobile: 072 432 6119.

Thibogang Thole, DENOSA Free State Provincial Chairperson.

Mobile: 079 501 5508.