NEHAWU is encouraged and welcomes the decision by the Deputy Minister of Health ,Molefi Sefularo to personally visit public hospitals to check their state of readiness for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

It is an appropriate and welcome gesture for the minister to visit the hospitals and see for himself the conditions that the health workers are working under. We hope that the minister will act to improve the conditions of our health workers so as to ensure that they are well resourced to deal with an increased volume of patients during the soccer tournament.

The union is encouraged that the minister has given the public hospitals a thumbs up and we also call on all health practitioners to do their ultimate best to welcome our guests and treat them with dignity and respect.

South African health workers especially in public hospitals have done a sterling job in delivering a much needed service to the poor people of our country, despite working for an overburdened and under resourced health system.

We call on the department of health to ensure that measures are taken to prevent the spread of contagious diseases since we will be having an influx of people from around the world.

Our health professionals face dangers  every day in executing their duties and the union demands better health policing for our entry points to minimize the possibility of diseases being transferred to the country without detection.

NEHAWU encourages  all South Africans to make it their responsibility to ensure the safety of our fellow citizens and our guests during the soccer tournament.

We also call on them to cooperate with health authorities in preventing health hazards and implementing recommended mechanisms to prevent the spread of all known  contagious diseases.

We therefore issue a challenge to the government to improve the working conditions of our health workers and fill all vacant posts within the department.