04 November 2020

THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health wishes to thank the staff at Addington Hospital for returning to work this afternoon, following protest action over the functionality of passenger and service lifts at the hospital

Damage due to flooding has led to the malfunctioning of four lifts for patients; two for miscellaneous services; and another two for food. Currently, a service lift and a food lift are in an operational state.

The Department has been engaging closely with the appointed service provider, who have been working flat-out to source parts and ensure that the lifts are repaired timeously.

Following a fruitful meeting this afternoon, a working committee was formed which is made up of organised labour, facility management, senior officials from head office - including engineers from the Department's Infrastructure Development unit.

The committee will be responsible for, among others:

• Monitoring the day-to-day functioning of the hospital and the lifts repair process;
• Ensuring that there is regular communication between engineers, hospital management, and organised labour; and
• Keeping staff at all levels informed of the progress made in addressing any identified challenges.

It must be noted that, due to the specialised nature of the lift equipment, parts have to be ordered overseas, which may affect their timely shipping to local shores - which is susceptible to logistical backlogs caused by the COVID - 19 epidemic.

However, it must also be noted that in addition to the imminent arrival of parts to repair the lifts, the Department has a bigger project in the pipeline to replace the old lifts. This is expected to commence early in the new year.

The Department understands the frustrations of staff and the public, and wishes to assure them that the situation at the hospital will soon return to normal.

In the same vein, the Department appeals to the affected essential services workers to put the needs of the public first, and not move away from their noble mandate as health workers, which is to heal the sick, and save lives.

ENDS Issued on behalf of Dr Sandile Tshabalala, Head of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health