READER LETTER | Hospitals in ICU due to transformation, freedom

A video that was circulated on WhatsApp last week is very disturbing and embarrassing. It was about the hopelessly filthy conditions of public hospitals; stressing how much everything has changed from the orderly, very clean conditions that prevailed in the past, how nurses took pride in their calling, looking very clean themselves and professional in their behaviour, to how all of that has changed.

I was reminded of how at some hospitals cleaners would refuse to clean blood on the floor or vomit, arguing that that is not part of their job description, and that nurses are the ones that have to deal with such substances. If you get into an argument with them, they tell you not to bring back the oppression that you survived under apartheid, and if it gets to a point where they decide to involve their union, they are usually supported by it... an untenable situation, it is.

Lilian Dube has since lamented the appalling conditions at hospitals now as opposed to what a pleasure it was during their time, when every department in any hospital was so scrupulously clean that it was a pleasure to visit, with a very welcoming attitude from nurses.

I could understand what she was talking about because everything has changed, with some employees very rebellious and uncooperative because they are free and have the protection of their unions, so a dispute can arise anytime with both the cleaner or the nurse refusing to take responsibility for some task.

Transformation and freedom, very chaotic.

Cometh Dube-Makholwa, Midrand