Villagers desperate after empty ‘promise’ to staff clinic they built
Local supplier owed R63,000, but health department denies it suggested to community that they construct a building
Hundreds of villagers who built a temporary clinic after the department of health apparently instructed them to do so with a promise that it would be staffed and a proper facility built later, say five years on, nothing has happened.
They used R28,000 from profits made from their forest in the Mthombe administration area in Libode, they said.
The total cost to build the brick and mortar clinic, which was completed in 2016, was nearly R100,000.
The villagers still owe the remaining balance to a local businessman.
Nearby clinics are more than 15km away. The Mthombe villagers told the Dispatch this week that representatives at the health department in Libode had apparently told them to build a clinic and that resources would be deployed.
However, health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the department would not instruct communities to build their own clinics as it was the “obligation of government to provide basic health services for the people”.
Headman Mthethunzima Ndamase said villagers struggled to get health services as elderly people were not able to walk the distance to the nearby clinics.
“The building was finished in 2016. The department came to inspect it and said we should look for a place for the staff that will be working here.
“A site was identified where the department would build the proper clinic. “The building is now deteriorating. “We feel saddened because we wanted to end the struggle of people having to hire bakkies when they need to go to the clinic. It would have served six villages.”
Nonjani Ncele, 74, said: “Elderly people have to wake up early to go to the other clinics to beat the queues.
“Taxi fare costs R60 to R90 to nearby clinics and back but transport is scarce. “Hiring a car for emergencies costs R800.” Ncele said the money they had used to build the clinic was intended for village needs.
“The yard was fenced. The water tank was stolen. Our worry now is that the structure will become dilapidated.
“A mobile clinic has not come since last year.”
Photshi Bangani, who owns a hardware store in the village where the material was bought, said the villagers still owed him R63,000.
“It hurts me to see it not used as people need the services.
“The outstanding balance is affecting my business.”
Councillor Mpumelelo Langa said he and other villagers had been to the department’s local and provincial offices to request that the clinic be opened, but this had not happened.
Secretary of the clinic committee, Nongezile Tshemese, said as the country braced itself for the third wave of the Covid19 pandemic, they were left to fend for themselves.
“People have died here in recent months from Covid-19 complications, while some have been infected.
“I have not seen the mobile clinic come here this year.
“Sometimes when it came last year, it would arrive with children’s medicine only.
“We fear for our lives here, especially with the third wave.
“Now the department says they do not have nurses.”
Mthombe chief Nkosi Mthawelanga Ndamase fears there are not enough nurses available to staff a clinic.
“A pregnant woman gave birth on the way to St Barnabas Hospital last year.
“During this pandemic we ask people to adhere to the regulations.
“There is a high need for a clinic here. The situation is so bad because some people do not have money to pay the bakkies to get to the clinics as they depend on social grants.”
Kupelo said the department had a number of approved clinics but due to budgetary constraints, the department was unable to build these.
He disputed the allegation made by the villagers.
“I can assure you that person would not have been authorised to give such advice or instruction to that community.
“We do not encourage communities to build structures because we are now talking national health insurance. We are following a particular policy.
“There is a standard structure that has to be built to be an ideal clinic and that would cost millions of rand, which the community cannot afford.”