PA clinic being fixed but it will take months

Patients who usually use the Port Alfred Clinic can expect disruptions to their routines for at least a year while the facility undergoes much-needed renovations, say Eastern Cape health authorities.

The clinic was closed on Tuesday March 19 after a burst water pipe flooded the facility the previous day.

According to Ward 10 councillor Nadine Haynes, who is also a member of the clinic committee, the clinic’s closure followed an inspection to the premises by the department of labour.

The abrupt closure had left many patients unhappy and confused about alternative arrangements regarding treatments and collection of medication.

However, those who continued approaching the clinic despite the closure were immediately given referral letters and their records sent to the clinic closest to where they live. The four closest clinics in the health department’s Makana sub-district are Station Hill Clinic; Nkwenkwezi Clinic; Port Alfred Local Clinic 1; Port Alfred Local Clinic 2.

At the time, the Eastern Cape MEC for health’s spokesperson, Mkhululi Ndamase, said to ensure there was enough personnel at other clinics, staff at the Port Alfred Town Clinic would be relocated to other clinics until the damage had been repaired and the clinic reopened. Other measures to lessen the impact of the clinic’s closure were that a stocktake of medication would be done and distributed to other clinics to ensure there was no shortage; and equipment would be marked and distributed to other clinics while the Town Clinic was temporarily closed.

Asked for an update on the situation this week, sub-district manager Mohamed Docrat said it would be several months before the facility would be ready to re-open.

“We are still at the early stages of procurement,” Docrat said. “Because these processes take time, it could be anything from six months to a year before the renovations are complete and the clinic can return to its proper premises.

“Until then, we are asking patients to visit the clinic nearest to where they live.”

Ndamase said yesterday in response to questions: “A contractor has been appointed to do roof and plumbing repairs and immediate work was completed. More work will continue as we aim to have the clinic fixed soon.”

He said to ensure residents continued to receive primary healthcare services they had been referred to their nearest clinic. “Staff have also been reassigned to other clinics.”

Haynes said more information would be available after a meeting with the hospital manager later this week.

She said patients were still coming to the clinic to get referral letters to other clinics.