Hijackings ‘outreach threat’

OUTREACH health programmes could be suspended in the King Cetshwayo District, on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, if the rampant hijacking of department vehicles continued, Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo warned.

This follows the recent hijacking of two departmental Toyota Hilux double cab 4X4s in the area within as many hours. Since April, 18, department vehicles have been hijacked in this area, costing the cash-strapped department millions of rand.

Dhlomo said the department would not continue risking its employees’ lives if people in the uThungulu area were unwilling to help curb the hijackings.

“These thugs hijacked the first vehicle at gunpoint. They changed its registration plates and within two hours used it to hijack the second vehicle.

“This criminal act against the department will have serious adverse effects on the delivery of outreach programmes in the King Cetshwayo District,” Dhlomo said.

He said the first vehicle was on TB tracing and injection missions in the Ntuthunga area, while the second was en route to Eshowe and Nkandla hospitals to deliver male circumcision kits.

He said both vehicles had been recovered, one at a house in the Dlangubo area, where the homeowner led the Empangeni police to the second vehicle.

“I am concerned that our health professionals are really getting apprehensive about doing outreach programmes. If they decide to stop going to that area, our people are going to start dying,” Dhlomo said.

“We have studied our terrain in KwaZulu-Natal and noted that there are areas that are not easily accessible, hence the decision to buy 4X4s.

“We are trying to make it easy for our people who cannot get to clinics easily.”

The TB tracker teams helped in getting people who had defaulted on their treatment, and they thus helped stop the spread of the infectious disease, he said.