WC health care faces total shutdown
Last updated: Thursday, July 02, 2009 PrintGovernment may need to call on the military and the private sector to assist with public health care if doctors in the Western Cape decide to escalate their protest action to a full strike.
This follows widespread disapproval of the latest offer emerging from Bargaining Council negotiations.
A strong spirit of unity and camaraderie was present as hundreds of public health care doctors from around Cape Town convened at Groote Schuur hospital this morning to decide on their next course of action.
This comes after doctors here staged a walk-out on Friday afternoon with only emergency services available to the public.
OSD not implemented after one year
It is exactly one year since government’s proposed Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) for doctors was supposed to have taken effect. The OSD aims to adjust salaries for doctors to be in line with their qualifications and experience.
Vice-president of the Junior Doctors Association (Judasa), Dr Zameer Brey, says delivery of public health care is a government prerogative and doctors should not be held responsible.
“Having said this, we are very sensitive to the fact that our doctors want to give the care as best as possible and so we don’t want to do this in an irresponsible manner,” he says.
State needs to provide alternative health care
Western Cape Sama chairperson Dr Mark Sonderup said doctors would reconvene on Friday after they had time to study the details of the offer and consult with their colleagues in other parts of the country.
“The critical decision is if people reject this offer, what is the next step and logically the next step is complete shutdown,” says Sonderup. If this happens, the government will need to provide an alternative or patients will have to seek private medical treatment.
Junior docs say they are forced to strike
Brey said the decision to strike was not easy. “As a junior doctor I want to emphasise this strike action is not what we want. This is against everything we want to do. Government has painted us into a corner and we don’t have many options left.
“I think it is very unfortunate that we now have to seriously consider shutting down entire services. This will mean that even emergency services need to be run by whoever the government deems an appropriate provider of care – whether it is the military or the private sector,” said Brey.
“Responsible” strike in WC
In the meantime, the doctors will continue picketing. Sonderup says protest action in the Western Cape has been handled in a “very responsible” manner by enforcing minimum service levels.
This means that emergency cases are being treated and basic critical services like dialysis, cancer treatments and emergency surgeries are continuing.
“This allows people the constitutional right to protest and to demonstrate whilst trying to minimise the impact on patient care,” he says.
Doctors were also not happy with the address by Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Molefi Sefularo, at Groote Schuur, earlier this morning. The Minister was criticised for being completely unprepared. A specialist physician interviewed said the Minister mainly emphasised improvements to the salaries of senior medical staff, leaving out the people who do the bulk of the work.
Government “talking in circles”
He accused government of dragging out the negotiation process by talking in circles. “As long as the government doesn’t take us seriously, as long as they are talking in circles and don’t answer our questions, we can’t get through this painful negotiation process.”
Brey said that while the new offer was an improvement on last week, it was “nowhere close to where it should be”.
He said the Ministers address met with mixed emotions. Some doctors respect the fact that he had addressed them directly while others felt that it was a “token address” and didn’t really get to the issues.
Brey said the new offer does not get close to the 50% increase doctors have been demanding for the last eight months.
Western Cape doctors also said they want their KwaZulu Natal colleagues who were dismissed after striking, to be reinstated, before they will consider returning to work.
(Thania Gopal, Health24, July 2009)
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Your Comments
SA doctor' s strike
I' m an SA doctor that has opted to seek greener pastures (in Australia). I don' t look back for a second. I worked in the public sector in SA for 3 years. As an intern at the New Somerset Hospital in Greenpoint we worked up to 160hrs overtime a month, only getting paid for 76hrs. I tried private practice (GP work), but found it wasn' t much better. Most patients still ended up having to go to public hospitals and it was difficult to get even the simplest medicines supplied regularly.
As they negotiate
I was listening to cape talk in the car on the way over and they had someone who phoned in because his mother had passed away while being rushed to the nearest open hospital... which was too far away. Its tragic that it has had to come to this, im sure there are many cases like this. This is due to the failure of government to not do things when they should. They should be held to account for all the madness they have caused!!
So sad it had to come to this
I dread the thought of being in a emergency situation where my diagnosis is made by an Intern who had been on his feet for 30+ hours and his big worry is how to pay his study debt, rent and transport. Moreover, the nurse might be an overworked and equally underpaid parson who has too many patients to attend. I worry about equipment failure when they do get around to deal with me. Is that not what it is about? Not just the pay, but also the hours and conditions. LISTEN to these people!
Shameful!!!
It’ s a shame that intelligent well educated professional people revert to strike action, not to even mention “ Hippocrates” . Last time I checked, we were living in a free market economy, just go and ask your colleagues in private practice. Lots of people now and in the past received bad deals in life. Don’ t we all have to do our homework before we endeavor into a specific career? And if we made the wrong choices don’ t we take personal responsibility to correct it?
SA DOCTORS
I am a specialist, trained at Groote Schuur, moved to mixed private and public sector in New Zealand. I now earn average R 220 000.00 per month, and working about 30% less than in SA, with about 80% less after hours work, almost no trauma. The work environment can be summed up as civilised. All my sympathy with the SA public hospital medics, they are saints to still work there.
Drs Strike
This goverment is to buisy lining its pockets without taking care of any of its responsibilities Goverment is appointed by the people to serve the people at there best Health care has collapsed I members of parliment are to concerned about how much they can make out of any deal and do not sreve the community Doctors and all healthcare professionals are used unfairly and with little or no substatial reward It is a thankless profession No Wonder we loose staff to overseas
SA Doctors
When I started reading this, I thought I would look at the Hippocratic Oath. Thought I would find there something I could use to lambast our doctors. I did not :-(
They simply swear to stick by the " art" to the best of their ability and judgment. I initially thought the oath prevents them from stricking, but it does not.
Ah well, in that case then, I suppose I will blame the gvnt from standing in the doctors' way and preventing them from executing the oath as best as they can!
Guess
S A Doctors
Had another look!
In places, the oath goes:
I will apply dietic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment I will keep them from harm and injustice.. .To keep the good of the patient as the highest priority. If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot. DOUBTFUL NOW!
Shameful!!!
I think we would all agree that the working conditions never mind pay of a SA police man is of the worst kind... Now imaginge the police force go on strike??? Imagine the scientists of the nuclear bomb went on strike??? Imagine the possibilities???
Doctors should be well paid...
To the " Anonymous" comment #4: So you are suggesting they should look for greener pastures? That afterall is what they would have to do to earn more (and I quote " take personal responsibility to correct it" ).
Great logic there... By that end, there would be NO doctors in public service!
Doctors I say use " Anonymous" comment #4" advice and leave the country.
Well educated people deserve first class treatement. Respect, a future and 1st world hospitals await you outside Africa...
Re: Nuclear Bomb, Police etc
Wow " Shameful Comment #9" talk about being melodramatic!!
Firstly, SA no longer has the bomb, however if it was a nuclear armed country, the scientists wouldn' t strike as they would be getting " market rates" for their skills.
Secondly, if the Police strike, then the army is called in. We also know the army will never strike as every African state pays the army well (just in case they happen to lose and election).
The Police has a strike in the UK and the world didn' t come to an end.
Shameful!!!
there will be doctors in public service in the end... demand/supply? The Goverment will then be forced to pay doctors more to stay in public service... obviously me as a SA taxpayer (even though I do not make use of public health services) will have to pay for it, aswell as for expensive medical insurance (which is not always willing to pay the full rates private doctors/medicine charge). But hey, if I dont like, I should go and look for greener pastures???
Commentators re: Striking Medical Doctors, etc.
What is even more shameful is some of these people who are commenting' s spelling and grammar - how did they even pass secondary school exams!!
Re: Nuclear Bomb, Police etc
The police in this country in general might as well be on strike by their response times in a lot of cases. The doctors have every right to strike. Enough is enough.
doctor point of view
Yes it is about more money at face value, but the whole point of the strike is to attract doctors back into the state sector. At the moment doctors are leaving in droves to private and overseas. We watch as our patients get substandard care due to lack of personal. Doctor numbers have been reduced to a point where we can no longer " uphold" the Hippocratic oath that everyone keeps referring to. Please visit a state hospital and see what state patients endure with current inadequate doctor no.s
Isn' t this rather a symptom than the illness...?
Doctors make life and death decisions everyday.They train 8 years(6 years study,2 years internship) to do so.Limb versus life at times,is putting it simply for those who cannot grasp the bigger concepts. If these highly educated people have weighed all the options,carefully thought about the consequences and decided that to strike is their only option despite the consequences or what their hippocratic oath states(may even be the best way to honor it). Then something is seriously wrong!?
no doctors no treatment a sick society
it is about time the government stopped buying all these luxury cars and houses and think of those out there suffering ..they stuff their mouths and only care about themselves..they should live in the townships for a week and get medical treatment in the government hospital which has no soap toilet paper etc etc..
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