HOSPERSA CONCERNED BY GAUTENG MEASLES OUTBREAK

The Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (Hospersa) is concerned by the measles outbreak in Gauteng. There has been 17 cases confirmed in parts of Gauteng which have been labelled as “not normal” by Dr Chika Asomugha, a senior medical advisor for public health programmes. The Union calls on the Department of Health to act swiftly in curbing the outbreak and to guard against maladministration and corruption in the process.

According to recent reports, Gauteng has been hit by a measles outbreak which has seen 17 cases confirmed in recent weeks. It is reported that the affected areas are Lenasia South and Houghton in Johannesburg as well as parts of Ekurhuleni and Tshwane. The reported cases are predominately children 15 years and younger with only one reported adult case. This has prompted the DoH to launch an emergency measles vaccination campaign on 15 May 2017 which will run until the end of June, reportedly costing tax payers an estimated R29 million. It is reported that the campaign should have started on 2 May 2017 yet was delayed due to resources being delivered late.

“Although we commend the DoH for their action in response to the outbreak, we are worried about their state of readiness in dealing with such an outbreak,” said Hospersa General Secretary Noel Desfontaines. “Our health care system is critically under-staffed and experiences shortage of medication in many parts of the country. We can only hope that the vaccination campaign will yield positive results and not be seen as another opportunity for corrupt tender deals by public officials,” concluded Desfontaines.