Tuesday, April 3, 2012

NURSES CATCH TB FROM PATIENTS

Nurses in Swaziland will march in protest tomorrow (4 April 2012) because conditions at the kingdom’s TB hospital wards are so bad many of them are catching the disease from their patients.

In a long-running dispute with the Swazi Government they say the TB Hospital at Moneni is the worst affected.

The Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) will march to the Ministry of Health to deliver a petition.

Nkosinathi Kunene, SWADNU Secretary General, said nurses in regions across the kingdom were catching the disease from patients because of the poor conditions in TB wards. Nurses at Moneni have been staying away from work in protest.

SWADNU is angry because in February a court order compelled the government to improve conditions at TB wards, but, it says, nothing has been done.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Stephen Shongwe, said everything was being done to find a solution.

No comments: