“The sisters here think this is the backyard of their grandparents. Can someone please give me the number of the MEC for Health. She needs to see that these people are getting paid and yet closing the clinic every day at 1pm. Sjo.”
SERVICE at city clinics came under the spotlight yesterday after members of the community expressed their anger on social media following reports of bad treatment received from clinic staff.
A patient yesterday aired her frustration on a community page on Facebook after allegedly being denied family planning services.
The woman said she was turned away a week ago by “cheeky” nurses at the Kimberley City Clinic when she went for family planning.
She said that the nurses told her that the family planning section closed at 1pm.
According to the woman, there was no board indicating the operating hours of the specific sections.
She said she left and returned to the clinic a week later, only to be told that she was late and had to wait until 4pm for the nurses to finish their shifts and other rounds.
The woman’s plea for intervention read: “The sisters here think this is the backyard of their grandparents. Can someone please give me the number of the MEC for Health. She needs to see that these people are getting paid and yet closing the clinic every day at 1pm. Sjo.”
According to the woman, she works near the clinic and is only able to go to the clinic during her lunch break. Her only other option is to catch a taxi back home and visit the clinic closer to her home.
Members of the community responded fiercely to the post, with many pointing fingers at the clinic nurses for not having a passion for their jobs.
“It is not only City Clinic sisters that behave like that,” one person posted. “Some clinics in the township are the same. I really do not know why they chose that profession because no one forced them to do that work. Then they give people attitude. If they don’t want to work in the community, they must go and sit at home because they are being paid to work with the community. The problem is that they think they own the clinics.”
“That’s why I hate clinics, because the nurses go on as if bad attitude is part of their job description, as if they are doing us a favour. Meanwhile we are paying their salaries because if we don’t go to the clinic, they won’t have jobs,” another wrote.
The Northern Cape MEC for Health, Mase Manopole, has expressed her dismay regarding the allegation that a city resident was denied access to health care at the City Clinic.
According to department spokesperson Lebogang Majaha, the MEC is expected to visit the facility today to meet with the staff and to investigate the matter.
According to Majaha, the visit will be part of putting proper systems in place to ensure that no one is denied access to health care in the future.
