Johannesburg - The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) in Gauteng has called on the national government to intervene on the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal over the water crisis.
The organisation said the situation was putting more strain on the healthcare system in the area.
Denosa also called for an urgent inquiry into the water crisis in the Hammanskraal area.
The organisation said an urgent inquiry would point out where the crisis began and hold those responsible accountable for this disaster.
“The water crisis in Hammanskraal has been there for years now and is living proof that the City of Tshwane has failed dismally to administer clean water service to the people of Hammanskraal,” Denosa said.
This is evident today as the Tshwane executive mayor, Cilliers Brink, was chased away by the community of Hammanskraal earlier as he attempted to assess and allay residents’ fears amid an outbreak of cholera in the area.
“As a result of this failure, Jubilee Hospital is now experiencing an influx of patients, which is stretching the facility to a breaking point. Nurses in facilities in the area will also be made to perform duties that are outside their scope of practice, where they may be expected to carry water buckets to the water tankers,” Denosa said.
The organisation added that it did not encourage nurses to perform duties that are outside their scope.
“We call on the national Department of Water and Sanitation to come to the rescue and save many people from potential diarrhoeal infection. By not quality-assuring the water that the city is supplying the citizens of Hammanskraal with, the municipality has lowered its guard to extremely dangerous levels and must be called to order urgently,” Denosa said.
The Star