Health MEC Botha comes to clinic’s aid

THE hot, overcrowded Mfuleni Community Health Clinic is no place to treat the sick, says Health MEC Theuns Botha, who acknowledged the problems facing the clinic yesterday.

Botha visited the clinic in response to a petition signed by doctors and nurses who said working conditions there were untenable.

Botha said he had seen the petition and after visiting the clinic was convinced that the concerns listed by the staff were “true” and needed urgent attention.

Among staff concerns was poor ventilation and that they sometimes had to work by candlelight.

“I don’t understand how they are coping,” said Botha.

“There is not enough staff and not even enough place for patients to sit.”

Nurses and doctors at the clinic had sent the Western Cape Health Department a signed petition listing their grievances and needs at the clinic.

Botha conducted a walka- bout at the clinic where he met the clinic’s director, Anthony Hawkridge, as well as management and staff.

“The concerns listed by the staff in the petition I found to be true. A turnaround plan has just been put in place,” Botha said.

Botha acknowledged the three main “problem areas” at the hospital as listed in the petition: They are: Understaffing. Outdated infrastructure. Security. The clinic sees more than 9 000 patients a month, of whom 5 200 are chronic.

To ease patient traffic, Botha said chronic patients would be able to collect prescriptions at “clubs” around the community, such as at the local library and the old age home.

The Western Cape Health Department delivers about 215 000 patient medicine parcels to alternative sites.

Botha said hiring more staff was an immediate priority.

He said that within the next month an assessment would be made to determine how many nurses and doctors were needed.

Adverts for staff would also be placed within the coming month.

Another short-term plan was to increase the clinic’s electricity supply.

During winter, power outages at the clinic forced doctors and nurses to work by candlelight, which posed a safety risk.

A staff member, who asked not to be named for fear of losing his job, told the Cape Times that from an administrative point of view the power cuts were a nightmare.

When computers switched off, information would be lost and staff would have to recapture information, which they didn’t always have time to do.

When it came to the upgrade of the building, Botha said the City of Cape Town owned the building.

He said provincial government had planned to build a new clinic in Mfuleni, but could not say when those plans would materialise.