Private hospitals mandate jabs for staff
Private hospital groups Mediclinic and Life Healthcare have introduced Covid-19 vaccination policies for staff and service providers, joining a steadily growing number of JSE-listed companies that have followed the lead of life and health insurer Discovery.
A Business Day report notes while the SA Human Rights Commission said earlier this week that a law mandating vaccination would not be at odds with the Constitution, the government has stopped short of making vaccination compulsory for fear of pushback, with unions opposed to compulsory immunisation.
Mediclinic’s policy, which came into effect on 1 October, requires everyone to be fully vaccinated by February 2022.
‘Firstly, we believe it is the right thing to do. And secondly, we think legislation forces us to do this,’ said Mediclinic Southern Africa CEO Koert Pretorius.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires employers to ensure they provide a safe work environment.
An exemption policy is being finalised to take account of people who had reasonable grounds for not getting inoculated.
Pretorius said the hospital group had an ethical and moral obligation as a healthcare provider to provide a safe environment for staff and patients.
‘We don’t want people to come to our hospitals and be exposed to an unnecessary risk to something that can be easily managed,’ he said.
Life Healthcare told staff last week that it was introducing a compulsory vaccination policy that will require all head office employees to be vaccinated by 1 December 2021, the first step in a phased plan that aims to have all staff vaccinated by mid-2022.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
