No racist or sexist incidents in Gauteng hospitals

8 September 2016

There have been no reported incidents by employees of racism, sexism, homophobia or harassment in Gauteng state hospitals and clinics in the last four years.

This is the claim of Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

She says that there were no reported incidents from 2012 to date. The last reported case was in 2011 which led to a doctor being dismissed.

I am pleased that reported incidents are extremely rare, but I am concerned that this might be due to intimidation rather than a complete absence of racism, sexism or harassment in our hospitals.

Junior doctors are especially vulnerable to harassment of various kinds, as was recently exposed in a Daily Vox article where an intern complained about widespread intimidation and posted a video of how she was treated.

Mahlangu says that the Gauteng Health Department has a Sexual Harassment Policy and all employees are informed about the grievance procedure in this regard.

She says that junior doctors have access to the MEC and the Head of Department to report complaints. If cases of harassment are reported, "the Management deals with them immediately". 

I hope that this rosy picture is true as health employees should always be treated by management with respect and dignity. 

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 8 September 2016