occasion of the celebration of the Workers Day in King Edward Hospital
3 May 2007
Programme Director
Hospital Board Members
Hospital Management
Friends of the Hospital
Abefundisi abazosiqinisa
All our employees kulesibhedlela
Ladies and gentlemen
We are very grateful to have been invited to this important occasion of the
Workers Day of Prayer. It is in moments like these where we draw strength and
affirm each other of our responsibilities as bearers of hope to the thousands
who come to us for various ailments.
Ten years ago when our then President, Tata Nelson Mandela was speaking to
people of your fraternity, he had this to say: "The dignity of your profession
will be enhanced by the quality of service you render and your success in
cultivating and strengthening the caring ethos."
Ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens, I do not want to add anything to
these wise words, save to say, we have our own Patients Rights Charter that
must remain our guide in dealing with people in anguish, despair and trauma.
Let us also heed the stipulations of our very own Constitution especially as it
pronounces in the Bill of Rights that: Everyone has the right to life.
Today we are here to say thank you for your commitment as we continue
experiencing hardships and victories in a climate of a complexity of diseases,
flourishing, seen and experienced in the past and current decades.
You all know that in the past, for the general well being of the populace,
prevention through immunisation was sufficient to maintain the good health of
the whole nation. In this era of HIV and AIDS; era of MDR and XDR strains of
Tuberculosis, all our capabilities, faculties, institutions and general morale
get strained and it becomes difficult to cope.
As professionals in the coalface of this meander of disease, helplessness
and mayhem, you are the people who understand this story better. We know how
hard it is for you to cope especially with the dwindling number of health
professionals that we are left with after the developed world had taken our
best.
I want us to utilise this Day of Prayer to remember the 34 colleagues or
staff members of this historic institution who lost their lives last year. I
note with sadness that almost all of them died not as a result of accidents. It
is at this juncture that I want to sent an appeal to this 3152 strong workforce
that, please let us make use of the Employee Wellness Programme that we have
access to. With all the problems and diseases that you deal with, some of which
end up inflicting you as well, it worries that only 69 of you used the services
of the Employee Wellness Programme last year.
By all accounts and standards, I repeat, it is no easy feat for a staff
compliment of 3 156 to deal and cope with 34 194 admissions in a single year,
that is 2006 and over and above that be instrumental in 7 034 deliveries in the
same year. Today we are here to pray with you that you find strength to
continue performing miracles to those who truly rely and depend on our skills,
talents and compassion.
We are saying the learning experience that gather here is immeasurable as
King Edward institution is the third largest hospital in the country with a bed
state of 922.
Mahatma once intoned: "Be the change that you want to see in the world"
Please do appreciate the fact that when the government of the people took
reigns in 1994, health care for the majority of our people was scandalous and
non-existent in other areas. The community health centres; clinics and
hospitals that we are now providing for rural communities in particular, need
personnel, they need you.
In his State of the Nation address beginning of last year, our Honourable
President, Thabo Mbeki, talked of the further expansion of the health
infrastructure, the refurbishment of existing clinics and hospitals, and the
re-opening of nursing colleges to increase the numbers of health
professionals.
Ladies and gentlemen, here in KwaZulu-Natal we are fortunate that we never
closed our nursing colleges. This very institution is a testimony to that, as
at this very juncture, we are constantly monitoring the performance of the 273
nursing students that we have here. We want them to succeed so that they can
ease the burden on the shoulders of both our nurses and patients.
To the hospital CEO, Bhekiswayo Mboneni, we want you to know that the
Department is very proud of the initiatives that you continue undertaking,
especially these:
* an agreement and a co-operation with Clothing and textile union for treatment
of HIV and AIDS clients who are employed by clothing and textile
industries
* the hosting of delegates from US, Uganda, Nigeria others directly referred by
National Department of Health, others via the University of KwaZulu-Natal
medical school
* your participation in Take a Girl Child to work initiative
* your hosting of 20 school children from Umsinga area referred by the
premierâs department.
All of us here must again recommit to the Peopleâs Contract and leave this
place knowing that we are trying all we can to live up to our motto of Fighting
Disease, Fighting Poverty and Giving Hope.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
3 May 2007
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government (http://www.kwazulunatal.gov.za/)
