The Northern Cape Health Department says plans to refurbish dysfunctional clinics across the province are under way. This as complaints over dilapidated infrastructure and inadequate resources at clinics in small towns escalate.
Residents in Warrenton, Pampierstad and other small towns in this province have complained about poor healthcare services for months. Many can’t get help at these clinics.
Access to healthcare services has become an uphill battle with many facilities not operational. The Health Department says it is urgently attending to infrastructure and staffing issues.
“This year we received an extra R16-million from the National Department of health and treasury which we appreciate because that will now enable us to go and improve certain areas. We are appointing artisans and improving maintenance in our facilities. We are strengthening our supply chain, we have re-organised our supply chain to ensure that the equipment that is required for our nursing staff, for our doctors including students are there, where it is supposed to be,” says Head of Health Department, Northern Cape, Riaan Strydom.
With healthcare services remaining a concern, nursing students at the Henrietta Stockdale Nursing College have come out strongly about resource challenges in the province. Earlier this week, many took to the streets to call on the department to prioritise their needs and primary healthcare.
The Department is adamant that this sole nursing college in the province will not shut down, neither leaving a shortage of nurses at clinics or the department in dire straits.
“I must give the assurance that this clinic will not close. It is not pending closure. People who want to close it are this disgruntled group. They want it to be close, they are calling it shacks but we will be calling the Department of Labour to come and verify whether they are shacks and the municipality to come and give us an honest opinion on some of these allegations,” Strydom added.
While the provincial Health Department vows to address health issues plaguing communities in this province, it remains to be seen when a number of clinics will start being adequately resourced.
