Nokwanda Nkonya (38) works as a household aid at the Tygerberg Hospital in the Western Cape, the province with highest number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities in the country.
The Labour Department had ordered the closure of four sections in the hospital following an inspection on Monday.
Parts of the hospital have been shut down following a labour inspection, which found them to be in contravention of COVID-19 safety protocols.
An inspection was done on Monday with trade unions following complaints that the hospital was contravening COVID-19 procedures.
The union previously called for the closure of the Western Cape's biggest medical facility until the correct health and safety protocols have been put in place, which would allow for a safe return for workers.
Tygerberg Hospital started using high-flow nasal oxygen treatment on COVID-19 patients as an alternative to putting them on a ventilator early on.
The Western Cape is struggling with the pandemic, and healthcare workers in the province are at the forefront of this problem.
The lab service at Tygerberg Hospital on Tuesday said despite its best efforts, it was struggling to procure test kits and reagents.
Amid concerns over access to PPE, Parliament’s health committee members are also worried about nursing staff getting infected with COVID-19.
Tygerberg Hospital has recorded more than 100 coronavirus infections amongst staff since the outbreak in South Africa.
There were two deaths in the Western Cape and one in the Eastern Cape.
The nurses and other workers at Tygerberg Hospital staged a demonstration at an event to mark International Nurses Day, demanding more personal protective equipment and better support while performing their duties.
The demonstrators are demanding that they get proper personal protective equipment to carry out their duties.
Experts from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Stellenbosch University (SU) have obtained samples from COVID-19 patients at Tygerberg Hospital.
Trials started at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, where BCG booster shots were administered to 250 health care workers, while another 250 received a dummy formula, or placebo.
Pulmonology Professor Coenie Koegelenberg experimented with the idea of performing virtual ward rounds before the country’s lockdown was announced.
The two-wheeled bot named Quinton will help reduce the time doctors are physically present with infected patients. Clinical Training Facility
Head of General Internal Medicine Dr Neshaad Schrueder said they'd had a lot of people presenting at the facility for COVID-19 testing and needed to control the situation in a safer manner.
