Admin
30 Jun, 2020
Loss of used Covid-19 test kits near Mdantsane is proof of an uncaring ANC government
Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba and the entire Eastern Cape African National Congress (ANC) leadership simply do not care about the lives of the poor and its nauseating. The only time they pretend to care for the people they claim to represent is when they need their votes, thereafter the people are left to their own devices. The fact that, yesterday, hundreds of used Covid-19 test kits were found lying in the veld near Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape, is shocking beyond belief. Anything could have happened if not for an informed Good Samaritan who noticed the used test kits scattered next to the N2 highway. What if this is not the only place were these kits were lost? What if children pick them up and play with them? Besides that, if what reports say are true, they represent at least 500 people who are awaiting their Covid-19 test results, but they will have to be redone as these kits have now been environmentally compromised. Worse still, who is to say that all the kits that were indeed found, comprises the entire load that was seemingly on route to Port Elizabeth? How exactly did the kits get inside the veld? They surely would have been lying shattered on the tarmac if this was indeed an honest mistake. UDEMWO calls on the Eastern Cape Health Department to immediately launch an investigation into how those test kits were lost in the first instance and more importantly, put measures in place to prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again. Issued by: Ms Thandi Nontenja UDEMWO Secretary General
Admin
22 Jun, 2015
UDEMWO calls for thorough investigation on Saint Barnabas Hospital, Eastern Cape
As the United Democratic Movement Women’s Organisation (UDEMWO), we are angered by the ignorance and inhumane treatment by the health workers at Saint Barnabas Hospital in Libode, Eastern Cape. Refusing to pay attention to a sickly person is something else but refusing to render the necessary help for a rape victim is grossly inhumane. Rape issue is a very sensitive matter and the more you do not follow all the necessary precautions is the more the crucial evidence can be missed and for a doctor to refuse to treat a victim is not acceptable at all. It takes a lot of courage for a victim to take the step of seeking assistance and to shun the victim kills the victim and this exacerbates the stigma of the gruesome act. UDEMWO is calling upon the Health MEC in the Eastern Cape to get thorough investigation into the matter and punitive measures should be put in place for those involved. Doctors or any other health workers should remember, they are at hospitals to deal and help patients and if they are unable to help community members in time of need, this means they are in a wrong field and must go elsewhere and do as they please. Statement issued by Thandi Nontenja – UDEMWO Secretary General
