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Medical treatment in Deben is lagging as patient numbers outweigh available services at the Jan Witbooi clinic, placing the wellbeing of those dependent on government health care at risk.

During an oversight inspection at the clinic this week, I confirmed that the clinic is clearly understaffed. Primary health care services are run by three professional nurses, who between them must treat over 120 patients per day. In addition, there is only one cleaner and one clerk at the clinic. This is in contrast to staffing needs of 18 personnel members in total. It is therefore little wonder that the staff are overwhelmed and overworked.

In addition to long queues, basic functions such as the checking of blood pressure often get neglected, as does the dispensing of medication, as there are no dedicated pharmacy assistants.

Joyce McQuire, can attest to this. She previously missed her scheduled appointment because she was admitted to hospital. On Wednesday, when she was finally able to visit the clinic again, she waited from 7am for the entire day for a refill of her required chronic medication, only to be sent home and told to return the following day. The next day she went back and was only helped by 2pm. She also has concerns that people with connections are getting preferential treatment.

The clinic is further experiencing water shortages, partly due to the ongoing theft of pumps, which makes basic hygiene and compliance with infection control measures difficult. Regardless of the high number of people moving through the facility each day, there is only security at night, so incidents of theft at the clinic are also quite high.

The situation at the Jan Witbooi Clinic is not conducive to the provision of quality health care. I have submitted a complaint to the Health District Manager in respect of my findings and I appreciate that he has acknowledged my concerns. I will be following-up with the district manager in due course on a service delivery improvement plan. The matter of staff shortages will also be addressed at a provincial level by the DA’s provincial health spokesperson.

Issued by Boitumelo Sebego, PR Cllr - Gamagara municipality