Medical interns want overtime
In a protest letter, a group of interns, who have been placed in four teaching hospitals, said many are frontline workers at risk of contracting Covid-19, yet they have no medical cover.
JEMIMA BEUKES
WINDHOEK
The health ministry has urged disgruntled interns to see their plight as a national sacrifice as the country wages a full-scale war against Covid-19.
This after 109 medical interns cried foul over lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), medical aid and overtime for being on call over weekends as well as housing and transport allowance.
In a protest letter, the group of interns, who have been placed in four teaching hospitals, said many of them are frontline workers with increasing risk to contract Covid-19, yet they have no medical cover.
“The pandemic has brought along tedious amounts of work for all healthcare professionals in addition to the existing workload. Health professionals, especially medical interns, work tirelessly around the clock in an attempt to serve and treat both patients infected with the deadly Covid-19 virus and patients requiring medical attention for other conditions. Working for extended periods of time is exhausting not only physically, but emotionally, psychologically and spiritually too, especially during these trying times,” they wrote.
They added that the ongoing challenge of PPE puts interns at high risk of contracting Covid-19 and other infectious conditions.
“It is a fact that medical personnel including medical interns are increasingly contracting the virus while on duty, which requires medical attention, however personal funds are used to cover medical bills due to no medical aid coverage.”
Meanwhile, the group said they work more than the stipulated 40 hours a week and are also required to be on call three times per week and often have to stand in over weekends; however, no compensation is provided for this.
Patriotic duty
Health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe said PPE is distributed according to a risk framework and emphasised that that there is no generalised shortage of PPE in the ministry.
“The position of the ministry is that we want to protect all our health workers because if we do not protect them, we will not be able to provide healthcare in this country. We are facing a bad situation; the current pandemic is something no one has ever seen and all of us are required to do what we can in order to respond to this pandemic.
“It is true that interns, in fact all the healthcare workers, are putting in more hours to protect our country,” he said.
He added that talks are ongoing to address the calls for overtime compensation.
[email protected]
WINDHOEK
The health ministry has urged disgruntled interns to see their plight as a national sacrifice as the country wages a full-scale war against Covid-19.
This after 109 medical interns cried foul over lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), medical aid and overtime for being on call over weekends as well as housing and transport allowance.
In a protest letter, the group of interns, who have been placed in four teaching hospitals, said many of them are frontline workers with increasing risk to contract Covid-19, yet they have no medical cover.
“The pandemic has brought along tedious amounts of work for all healthcare professionals in addition to the existing workload. Health professionals, especially medical interns, work tirelessly around the clock in an attempt to serve and treat both patients infected with the deadly Covid-19 virus and patients requiring medical attention for other conditions. Working for extended periods of time is exhausting not only physically, but emotionally, psychologically and spiritually too, especially during these trying times,” they wrote.
They added that the ongoing challenge of PPE puts interns at high risk of contracting Covid-19 and other infectious conditions.
“It is a fact that medical personnel including medical interns are increasingly contracting the virus while on duty, which requires medical attention, however personal funds are used to cover medical bills due to no medical aid coverage.”
Meanwhile, the group said they work more than the stipulated 40 hours a week and are also required to be on call three times per week and often have to stand in over weekends; however, no compensation is provided for this.
Patriotic duty
Health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe said PPE is distributed according to a risk framework and emphasised that that there is no generalised shortage of PPE in the ministry.
“The position of the ministry is that we want to protect all our health workers because if we do not protect them, we will not be able to provide healthcare in this country. We are facing a bad situation; the current pandemic is something no one has ever seen and all of us are required to do what we can in order to respond to this pandemic.
“It is true that interns, in fact all the healthcare workers, are putting in more hours to protect our country,” he said.
He added that talks are ongoing to address the calls for overtime compensation.
[email protected]
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