Clinic reopens after arson

THE City’s Health Department yesterday reopened the Ikhwezi Community Day Centre in Strand seven months after an arson attack.

“We are proud to once again be able to offer residents a health service at this facility. Services are fully integrated and electronic appointments for all services will commence within a couple of weeks,” said Mayco member for Community Services and Health, Zahid Badroodien.

He said it cost R8.1 million to fix the facility, of which insurance paid R4.9m following the attack last May.

“The rest of the budget had to come from other deserving capital projects which had to be placed on hold. The medicines and vaccines stored in the pharmacy alone were worth R1m, but the cost of this irrational act goes well beyond the budget that was spent.”

This year, other than painting the facility, the plan for Ikhwezi was to extend the reception area, the staff room and add extra toilets for clients and staff. But that would no longer happen, said Badroodien.

“Clients who abandoned their treatment due to the inconvenience of having to visit another facility will pay the price of disease progression; children who did not receive immunisation at their due dates are vulnerable to outbreaks of disease.

“We’ll never know how many unwanted pregnancies will result from family planning methods that were not given in time or the extent of the spread of disease because it was not diagnosed in time,” Badroodien said.

Ikhwezi is one of the city’s biggest health facilities, with on average 500 patients seen each day.

A R50000 reward is being offered for information on those responsible for the arson attack. |