Police have been called in to help guard the Thelle Mokgoerane hospital in Vosloorus as the security guards protecting the facility continue their strike.

The move comes a day after the staff at the hospital held marches within the facility and chased away management.

“Today a management team from the head office will be at the hospital to monitor the situation. South African Police Service has been involved and the public order police will be on site. The law enforcement agencies will take appropriate steps against those who might attempt to disrupt the running of the facility‚” said Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa.

'Bring in the police‚ this place is not safe‚' say hospital staff 

“It is also worth noting that the process of in-sourcing security services has begun and the security company that is guarding the facility has been paid by the Department. Over and above the Department has engaged the MEC for Community Safety to see how it can manage the situation whilst resolving the security issues around the facility‚” she added.

On Wednesday‚ hospital staff chased away management at the hospital‚ demanding that something be done about security at the facility.

Sidas Security Services‚ contracted by the department‚ was unable to pay its workers as it was not paid the money due to it.

Security guards deployed by the company then decided not to work from October 19. The guards reported for duty at the hospital but did not do any work.

The strike then allowed anyone to enter the hospital‚ which posed a huge threat to the patients and staff.

Ramakgopa visited the hospital with her executives on Wednesday to assess the situation. She was not pleased with the manner in which hospital staff expressed their frustrations.

“There are labour relations prescripts that govern how the employees should raise whatever dissatisfaction they might have in a professional working environment but what happened yesterday was uncharacteristic of health employees and it cannot be tolerated‚” Ramokgopa said.