The Eastern Cape Department of Health has raised concerns about high levels of violence at hospitals in the province. The Department’s Deputy Director-General in Clinical Services Dr Mthandeki Xamlashe says the situation has become unbearable as healthcare workers have also indicated they fear for their lives.
The workers maintain they are often threatened while treating patients.
“As a department, it’s causing an unpalatable situation. You don’t want to be treated by an anxious health worker. You don’t want to be treated by an emotionally disturbed nurse. That’s not good for any patient. So, we are really disturbed and concerned. There is also a threat to their physical well-being because these violent activities are in our facilities. This affects both public and private practitioners in the province and perhaps elsewhere in the country,” he says.
Another qualm raised by healthcare workers is the adverse impact of the situation on their mental and physical well-being as they battle to deal with the constant flow of patients brought in with bullet wounds and other violence-induced trauma.
