MANKAYANE: Patients at Mankayane hospital were left stranded on Tuesday after King Mswati’s Government failed to sustain salaries and subsequently terminated employment for four hundred and ten(410) nurses.
As a result, various hospitals in the country are facing a shortage of health workers, on-duty nurses later engaged in a protest complaining that the failure by Government to renew contracts for some of their colleagues resulted in them being overworked.
Senator Lizzie Nkosi, the Minister of Health had not responded to our questions at the time of compiling this report.
Speaking to this Swaziland News, Mayibongwe Masangane, the Secretary General of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) said there were health institutions that had to close on Tuesday as there were no nurses to attend to patients.
“There are health institutions that had to close as there are no nurses to assist them.So the remaining nurses are overwhelmed by the workload hence they are forced to demonstrate their frustration,"said the Nurses Union Secretary General.
But apart from the shortage of nurses, eSwatini is facing a shortage of drugs within the various hospitals, the country has been surviving on donations from other countries and international organizations.
King Mswati systematically destroyed the health system and subsequently invested in private clinics business, the King is alleged to be indirectly linked to the Clinic Group through his business partner Michelo Shakantu.
Patients stranded at Mankayane hospital.