A newly built primary healthcare clinic was officially delivered to the community of Soshanguve, Block JJ by Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane, Mr Solly Msimanga, in partnership with the Gauteng health MEC, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, for improved healthcare services.
The Gauteng provincial government initiated the new clinic program after concerns of the old clinic‘s small infrastructure and limited services. The clinic which was initially opened on the 1st of July 2017 is meant to offer services such as antenatal care, children immunisation and chronic illnesses. The clinic will also assist with minor surgical injuries by qualified doctors.
“This clinic was built for the dignity of the community and to speed the delivery of service. Soshanguve now has a facility that can accommodate the number of people who need healthcare services. We urge the community to refrain from damaging or vandalising the facilities. It is important that they take care of it for the benefit of those who are in need,” Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane said.
The new Block JJ clinic which allegedly cost R29-million to build and has an additional R49-million for operational costs, gets visits from approximately 7000 patients a month.
Dr Ramokgopa said this is the work of cooperative governance in the province and she is grateful to the Tshwane municipality for the building of the clinic, which was completed on record time.
“We have doubled the number of consultation rooms to accommodate more people. We are also working on having full time doctors in the facility,” she said.
Although the new clinic means better services, some community members said there has not been much difference.
“There’s no difference with this clinic. People line up from 3am in the morning to get into the clinic. There is shortage of medication in the clinic and the clinic staff is not helpful. There is no antenatal help in the clinic, you are told to go buy the medicine whereas we come here because we do not have money to do so,” Block JJ community leader and member Rhodah Mokone said.
Engenus Mphoga (88), who initiated healthcare services for the community from 1992 from his yard and without payment, said that he is grateful that the community now has a bigger and better facility but he is still concerned about the long clinic lines in the early mornings, the short hours and the lack of social work services.
MEC Dr Ramokgopa said that the need is bigger than the facility. A community meeting is scheduled to address such issues and that the facility needs to introduce an electronic filing and an SMS booking system. She assured that the Gauteng province has no shortage of medicine, only medication that is not on the list is not available.
“We are now focusing on building the Soshanguve District Hospital which the community needs and I am glad to say that we have secured funding and already have contractors for the project. We are looking to work with the municipality in finding suitable land for the building of the hospital which will begin before the end of this year,” Dr Ramokgopa said.
The Gauteng Health Department has planned to spend R150-million to the City of Tshwane to improve healthcare.
The City of Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga said that the old clinic facility will be turned into a rehabilitation centre for people with chronic illnesses and people suffering from substance abuse and assures the community that it will not be left unattended.
The MEC sent gratitude to the community and workers of the Block JJ clinic for being patient with the government in building of the new clinic without vandalising the old facilities and volunteering their services under difficult circumstances for over 10 years.
The Mayor said the City is committed to developing healthcare capacity based on the services that are rendered by the City, integrating the public and private health systems better and allocating adequate resources to deal with communicable and non-communicable diseases.
The City will collaborate with communities to develop community-based healthcare services, which will allow for flexible delivery of health services while improving the distribution of health information.
Mr Msimanga said the operating hours of the health care facility will be extended to offer primary healthcare and the City will create strategic partnerships with knowledge and innovation institutions towards developing efficient and effective health solutions.
He said the health services will be monitored to institute excellence in the provision of health care outcomes and to ensure that there is a progressive realization of access to healthcare and that this human right is enjoyed by as many residents as possible.
