Meeting to resolve illegal Limpopo hospital strike

The Limpopo health department was scheduled to meet Mecklenburg Hospital managers and staff on Thursday morning (3 April 2014) to resolve an illegal strike, the department said.

Provincial health spokesman Macks Lesufi said services were continuing as normal at the hospital as doctors were working and only some of the nurses were on strike.

Staff at the hospital embarked on a strike on Wednesday.

The ANC in Limpopo expressed concern about the strike at the hospital, near Burgersfort, in the Sekhukhune region.

Patients' well-being paramount

"It must be noted that strikes in the essential services sector must be a measure of last resort and must not be used to seek attention that has not been denied," African National Congress provincial spokeswoman Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said in a statement.

Khumbudzo said the ANC respects the right of workers to strike but that right should be exercisedwithin the provisions of the law.

"In this regard, the ANC is calling upon the health workers at the Mecklenburg Hospital to return to work while their grievances are being attended to, as the well-being of the patients must always remain paramount," she said.

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