Cape Town - The City of Cape Town will allocate approximately R19 million for security upgrades and scaling up of clinic infrastructure.
The City’s health department said the allocation was to ensure that its facilities complied with the national core standards, and would make up the bulk of the planned capital expenditure for the current financial year, totalling just over R32 million.
The upgrades will include measures like burglar bars and doors, alarm systems, metal detectors and more.
“Our clinics and other community facilities are not immune to attacks, whether it is through theft and break-ins and the associated vandalism, staff being hijacked as they arrive or leave their places of work, or as we’ve witnessed in recent months, brazen armed robberies,” said Mayco member for community services and health Patricia van der Ross.
“The City is committed to ensuring the safety of staff and clients, and we are constantly re-evaluating how we can further enhance security at these facilities.”
ANC Western Cape Health spokesperson Rachel Windvogel said the biggest challenge across all clinics are the lack of waiting areas or shelters for patients queueing outside facilities from the early hours of the morning for services.
“In terms of the Ideal Clinic programme, which is a national government way of systematically improving and correcting deficiencies in clinics, it has seen a number of clinics with an ideal clinic status decline from 82% in 2019/20 financial year to only 53% in 2020/21 year. This clearly shows that more work needs to be done to improve services at our clinics.”