Kouga mobile clinics stand idle

HUNDREDS of people who rely on crucial healthcare services in the Kouga region are at risk as mobile clinics stand idle while the provincial Health and Transport departments fight over money.

None of the 17 vehicles used as mobile clinics have been able to distribute medicines and deliver other essential services to patients for nearly six weeks. This is because the Health Department has allegedly failed to pay the Transport Department for services.

As a result, the Transport Department has refused to renew the vehicles’ licence discs, forcing the mobile clinics to remain stationary at the Kouga Local Service Area depot.

Many people are without vital medication for TB, blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. Other basic services, including examinations for pregnant women and babies, have also been affected.

The mobile clinics serve patients in Joubertina, Kareedouw, Humansdorp, Jeffreys Bay, St Francis Bay, Mondplaas, Hankey, Patensie, Thornhill, Loerie and Oyster Bay. They also provide medicine for workers on more than 15 farms in the Tsitsikamma region, each with between 30 and 50 employees.

Kouga sub-district manager Dumi Ntuli referred questions to Health Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo who, in turn, bounced them on to Transport spokesman Ncedo Kumbaca.

Kumbaca could not be reached for comment.