The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in KwaZulu-Natal is extremely annoyed and taken aback by disgusting utterances made by DA MPL Mr. Imran Keeka who is serving as the Health Portfolio Committee Chairperson. 

Mr. Imran is blaming the healthcare workers for the shortage of medication in the public health-care facilities in the province. Mr. Keeka lately has projected himself as the spokesperson of the department of health neglecting his duties of oversight in the provincial legislature.

As part of our public service delivery campaign the union has been raising these issues of the shortages including the shortage of staff, shortage of vehicles in both forensic pathology services and emergency services, poor state of the infrastructure in the public hospitals and inadequate supply of equipment.

The national union calls upon Mr. Keeka together with health portfolio committee to focus on providing oversight in the department of health as the situation calls for the state of emergency. 

The union will be engaging with the MEC for Health next week to discuss the state of public healthcare system in the province and wayforward.

The union will never allow the GPU to use workers as the scapegoat on the crisis that the department of health is facing. The health-care workers are giving it all under the difficult working conditions of low salaries, under staffing and unsafe working conditions. 

It is against this background that the national union, calls upon Mr. Imran to publicly withdraw his utterances and apologize to all healthcare workers or face the union of Bheki Mkhize.

END

Issued by NEHAWU KwaZulu-Natal Secretariat Office

For more information, please contact: Ayanda Zulu (Provincial Secretary) at 081 758 5199 or email: Ayandaz@nehawu.org.za or Ntokozo Nxumalo (Provincial Deputy Secretary) at 0815255983 or email: Ntokozo@Nehawu.org.za