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Health workers angered by AIDS deaths

    JOHANNESBURG

    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.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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