Cape Town - Long queues and bad attitudes from staff are some of the complaints Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe heard when he visited community health centres on Tuesday.
Before the State of the Nation address on Thursday, Radebe and his team visited two Western Cape Health department facilities – the Mitchells Plain and Nyanga community health centres – to check on backlogs and improvements.
In Mitchells Plain, Radebe and his team sat down with the facility manager to discuss the centre. In 2013 the centre had a problem with the patient waiting times, opening hours that weren’t adhered to, security issues and efficiency in the pharmacy.
On a tour of the day hospital, Jasminah Cassiem, who was accompanying her mother-in-law Saidiyah Cassiem, 79, said the hospital did not put the elderly first. “They let old people wait and I have to run up and down looking for doctors or nurses to help. They are not interested in old people at all.”
Saidiyah Cassiem had fallen on her “amputated” left knee and it was swollen. She said she was in pain and was in need of help. After hearing this story, Radebe asked that she be seen immediately.
Another patient, Zainunisa Davids, 31, said she was 14 weeks pregnant and was experiencing bad cramps. She said she had been at the hospital before 10am, but by noon had still not been treated. “I asked them for pain tablets and they told me to just wait my turn. What if I get a miscarriage again? I’m seriously scared.”
At the pharmacy, a group of elderly women shared the same frustration with the minister. Maria Poole, 75, said her biggest problem was the pharmacy staff’s “bad attitude”. “You sit here the whole day without being helped; they don’t take notice of you. A person can become more sick than they were when they came in. It’s about who you know here if you want to be helped urgently.”
Addressing the media outside the hospital, Radebe said queue management was still a challenge. He had encountered an attitude problem from one of the staff at the dispensary who refused to shake his hand. “The purpose of this programme is to hold people accountable for targets set. Each time we make these visits we want to monitor progression and make improvements where needed.”
Cape Argus