When mothers using the Taylor’s Halt Clinic give birth there during load shedding or power outages, their babies are born by the light of nurses’ cellphone torches.

After giving birth, the mothers can’t have a bath because there is no water there either, but the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health has denied this claim saying there is a borehole on the property.

A water crisis, dysfunctional toilets, a generator that doesn’t work and staff shortages are just some of the issues that are facing Taylor’s Halt Clinic, in Pietermaritzburg.

This was revealed by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) regional secretary Mazwi Ngubane.

The water shortage is a major crisis at this clinic and as a result hygiene is severely compromised to such an extent that mothers who have given birth at the clinic are unable to take a bath in the clinic. The toilets are also not working and there’s spilling sewage. This is a major project which concerns infrastructure and it was referred to the district engineer as per protocol.

Ngubane said the nurses are also forced to operate in the dark when there is load shedding or load reductions taking place.

The backup generator is not working and this forces nurses to deliver babies and treat patients in the dark which leads to medical negligence risks, long queues, complaints and a long waiting time for patients. The unresponsive back-up generator is a result of the poor monitoring of the diesel gauge.

“The employer has promised that the security guards will be trained to monitor the diesel gauge so that the fuel will be ordered before the gauge [shows] empty, to ensure continuous running of the generator.

“When something happens while the nurses are operating in the dark they are the ones who are going to be in trouble. When they do not assist patients they will also be turned into being the bad people.”

He said the employees are doing more than they should be doing as they are short-staffed.

There’s a severe staff shortage where only two nurses work nightshift on many occasions. Night duty nurses have to look after the patients and clean the floor on a daily basis due to cleaners not being on the roster for nightshift.

“We can no longer continue like this. We are tired. We have instructed our members to work according to their ratio. They must not overload themselves. We understand and we feel for the community members that will have to go back home without getting assistance. But there is nothing we can do; we cannot allow our members to be exploited by a department that does not care about them.”

He said the department’s response to the lack of cleaners at night was that nightshift has “less business activities which makes the cleaning services far less necessary”.

Apart from these issues, Ngubane said there is also a lack of the tools of trade needed for cleaners, in particular trolley buckets.

One of the employees who spoke to The Witness and asked not to be named said it was very difficult to work under the conditions that they are exposed to, especially with the staff shortages. She said when there is an emergency they are forced to bring everything to a standstill and go and focus on the emergency case and that does not sit well with the other patients.

Last week one of the nurses was [subjected to insults] because she had to go and attend to an emergency case. The patient complained that they were left unattended. It is very tough because the patients do not understand the pressure that we are working under.

Regarding the water and sanitation issue she said the department has tried to intervene.

“There is water in the area but it cannot get to us at the clinic which has led to a blockage of the toilets. A month ago they promised us that they will be changing pipes from a reservoir.”

KZN Department of Health spokesperson Ntokozo Maphisa said: “According to the district management and clinic management the clinic does have a functional borehole in place. The department is in the final stages of awarding a contract to a service provider to fix the sewer. The issue of back-up generator is not true, as the back-up generator is fully functional.

“The department is not aware of any patients being treated in the dark, as this was never reported to management as per established protocol if any challenges arise.”

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