SA Medical Association concerned by another attack on healthcare worker at public hospital

The South African Medical Association (SAMA) is gravely concerned about yet another attack on a healthcare worker at a public hospital.

On Tuesday night (15 Feb) a doctor at the Mapulaneng Hospital in Mpumalanga was attacked while on her way to the doctor’s residential quarters after her shift. She was hijacked, robbed at gunpoint, and the perpetrators attempted to rape her. The doctor is, rightly, extremely traumatized by this experience.

This incident follows the killing of a nurse at Tembisa Hospital earlier this month.

SAMA is concerned that doctors working in public sector hospitals living and working in constant fear and in general feel unsafe within their working environments. SAMA has on many occasions in the past raised concerns regarding the issue of safety at public hospitals. The Association has proposed that stringent security measures be implemented for the protection of healthcare workers and patients in dire need of medical services.

SAMA is taking the issue of safety and security seriously and urges all stakeholders to collectively acknowledge the extreme level of the problem and to find solutions in the interests of everyone in the country.

[ENDS]