Hospice patients endangered by strike
ALEXANDRA – Lives of hospice patients are endangered due to the Pikitup workers' strike.
Patients at the Alexandra Hospice and Rehabilitation Centre were left in danger for almost a full week by the effects of the protracted Pikitup workers’ strike.
The centre on 2nd Avenue cares for 60 chronic and terminally ill patients. Some require 24-hour support, others oxygen to aid their breathing, clean linen as they are infirm, disabled and very weak and also, being fed at scheduled times.
The centre was without electricity from 31 March to 5 April. This after the community, in desperation to ward off the stench and potential diseases from decaying and uncollected rubbish on the street, unintentionally burnt the centre’s electricity mains box which was covered by the rubbish.
Centre manager Grace Marutlulle said the incident impacted their work and left them worried for almost a week. “Despite immediate and numerous follow-up calls to Joburg City Power, there was no response until 5 April when I went to fetch them. We risked loosing the lives of those who require regular oxygen support. The place was plunged into darkness in the evening when staff had to bath patients and need the laundry machines to wash bed linen,” Marutlulle said.
This, she said, forced them to cook five daily meals using more gas which is reserved for back-up which increased their operating costs. She added that the darkness was also a risk for patients who are able to walk alone to the outside toilets, and that they also lost out on perishable donated food which went rotten as the fridges didn’t work.
City Power employees who came to site improvised through a temporary power reconnection. They said power would be fully restored as soon as they are supplied with all required material.
Marutlulle urged council agencies to react with urgency when called out for emergency support to avoid potential loss of life. She also mentioned that the council was still to clean the area around the burnt box to enable City Power employees to complete their work unhindered.
Details: Alexandra Hospice and Rehabilitation Centre 011 443 3525.
