Sama worried about safety of doctors, nurses
The South African Medical Association (Sama) held a media briefing on
Thursday about the safety and security of medical staff and patients,
especially at public institutions.
“We are dealing with a matter which has become a huge threat to our health care institutions. The issue of our security guards who are not armed and who are expected to deal with thugs who carry real guns,” says vice-chairperson of Sama Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa.
Mzukwa says no specific training has been done for security personal on how to protect these hospitals and clinics.
“You must remember there is no proper training that is tailor made for health care institutions. The training that is done is like you are training for a supermarket or something. But we are dealing with the health care institutions especially with the emergency units. Where you find that gangsters have been fighting and they come to fight within the hospital.“
He adds that most communities lack good partnerships between the clinics and local police stations
“The second thing is that there is no collaboration between the hospitals and the local SAPS centers like the police stations in such a way that at times even if there is something that is happening at the hospital and you want to call the local police its really difficult to get a quick response. there is no coordination these departments do not work together.”
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