HAZYVIEW – A week has passed, and gates are still closed at the Shabalala Community Clinic and Sandriver Clinic.
This comes after the robbery and shooting of a security officer in one of the clinics.
It is alleged that security officers were attacked in the said clinics and one was shot in the leg.
A resident, Nomsa Gumede, claims that this is not the first incident, stating there has been a prevalence of these criminal activities in the said clinics.
“When they close, they want us to die, we appeal to the government to intervene in these matters. Things are bad at Shabalala and Sandriver Clinics. All of us now have to go to Hazyview Clinic and we are many, everyone is flocking in there and people travel long distances now to access healthcare facilities.
Our files are in our respective clinics, which is detrimental for this clinic as they don’t gave our medical records. It’s a mess,” she stated.
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Another resident, Charmaine Matukane, said the closure of the clinics compromises and poses danger to the health of individuals.
“The closure of the clinic affects the community because there are elderly people who need to check their sugar diabetes levels in those clinics, but are now unable to access the service. Again, there are newborns who need to go for check-ups, as well. There are also chronic patients, too, they cannot get their medication,” Matukane said.
During Mpumalanga Mirror‘s visit to Shabalala Clinic, healthcare workers were seen wearing union regalia, singing and chanting songs outside the clinic premises.Meanwhile, the Provincial Health Department spokesperson, Dumisani Malamule, stated that some patients have been diverted to Hazyview Clinic.
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“The department is aware of the incident that took place at Shabalala Clinic, the matter was reported to the police. The security company was requested to increase their patrol facility and the plan is to improve fencing around the facility.
A suspect has been arrested and the department is engaging all relevant stakeholders to speed up the normal operation of the facility,” said Malamule.
