JOHANNESBURG, 9 June (IRIN) - South Africa's doctors and nurses
have expressed anger over having to see people dying of
AIDS-related illnesses, the South African Press Association
(SAPA) reported on Friday.
Health workers recently embarked on a countrywide picket urging
the government to implement a national antiretroviral treatment
plan for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Wearing T-shirts with the words "HIV positive" and "health
workers support the treatment plan", protesting workers in
Johannesburg also said they were overworked.
Edna Bokaba, a nurse at the local Chris Hani Baragwanath
hospital, said the hospital was short-staffed by 1,000 nurses,
while some 80 percent of patients were affected by opportunistic
infections related to HIV.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), along with a number of
unions representing the workers, has expressed support for the
action.