Doctors who have engaged in strikes must return to work or face the consequences, the health minister said on Friday.
”We are now put in a situation where we are forced to use the laws of this country to ensure that we save lives. Towards that, we have advise these doctors, especially those that are on an illegal strike in KwaZulu-Natal, to return to work,” said Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in a statement.
”We have no choice, against those who are determined to put the lives of vulnerable patients at risk, but to issue court interdicts and other legal instruments so that these professionals are stopped from destroying the health system further,” he said.
Motsoaledi said the government did not have a quarrel with the doctor’s union, the South African Medical Association (Sama), as it has not condoned the strike and the two sides would return to the bargaining chamber this weekend.
Sama has also expressed a desire to continue negotiations with government.
”We hope that government will be prepared to move in this few days. I can’t say whether we are going to accept or reject the offer, there are still things to discuss, we will be back in the bargaining chamber this weekend,” said Sama chairperson Dr Norman Mabasa.
With the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council deadline looming, parties will be hard pressed to find a solution to the impasse which left many hospitals running on skeleton staff this week.
The PSCBC has set June 30 aside for the government and labour to agree on Occupational Specific Dispensation — an adjustment of salary grades for public servants to reward their experience and skill level.
Motsoaledi this week outlined a revised pay package for doctors, which was seen as a positive move by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, to which Sama is affiliated.
However, Mabasa said after going to a few members with the offer, which the union’s consultants broke down and explained, many were ”less than impressed”.
He said there was a ”greater need for movement” on the part of the government.
”Government must be prepared to move in a certain direction,” he said.
Meanwhile, striking doctors in KwaZulu-Natal were issued an ultimatum by provincial health minister Sibongiseni Dhlomo on Friday, who vowed tougher action should the essential service workers not return to their posts.
His department was preparing a court interdict to force the health professionals to end the strike.
”We as the department of health are designated as an essential service provider and therefore find the action of these health professionals [is] disrupting service delivery and compromising patients’ lives,” Dhlomo told reporters.
Notices had been sent to all hospitals calling on striking doctors, dentists and pharmacists to resume their duties no later than 8am on Friday, he said, describing their action as ”extraordinary”.
In KwaZulu-Natal the strike started four days ago and crippled public health institutions in Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
Some doctors in other provinces also downed tools. Dhlomo’s call echoed that of his counterpart in the Eastern Cape, Pumulo Masualle, who on Thursday urged doctors to return to their posts to give the negotiations a chance.
Doctors at Groote Schuur hospital in Cape Town staged a walk out on Friday, before returning to work, the Western Cape Department of Health said.
About 100 doctors, mostly interns, stopped work and walked into the hospital’s courtyard at 2.30pm, said provincial health spokesperson Faiza Steyn. – Sapa