PRETORIA - Pretoria residents on Wednesday had the opportunity to interact with newly-elected Tshwane Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa, just a day after he took over the reins.
Mokgalapa visited the Phahameng Clinic in Mamelodi, before heading to interact with constituencies, including vendors in Marabastad.
"I came here to do oversight, to see the upgrading of the new facility [at the clinic]. This new state-of-the-art facility is a pharmacy. It also has consulting rooms. It will really assist in the capacity of the main facility," Mokgalapa spoke to journalists during the Mamelodi visit.
"Secondly, we are trying to capacitate this facility in terms of staff. They have told me that the ratio is one [healthcare practitioner] to 35 patients, which is very quite very high and unacceptable. Already the process of recruiting the new nurses is underway and we hope to finalise it by the end of this month."
Mokgalapa paid tribute to the healthcare workers who spend long hours assisting the many patients who form long queues inside the facility on most days.
"It's a selfless service. I want to pay my greatest respect and homage to the nurses, to the sisters here for the work they do. It humbles me as the mayor," said Mokgalapa.
While many patients, stuck in long queues at the clinic took pictures of the new mayor, others requested that he overhauls service at the health facilities.
"We hope there will be an improvement in the services we get. We are aged, and spending hours in a queues is really painful. The mayor must act, so that we can feel the difference. We cannot afford the fees charged at private hospitals where the service is excellent," said Pattie Nkosi who was accompanied by her daughter.