Residents in parts of Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, are frustrated over the closure of a number of clinics.
A high crime rate and lack of security led to this decision, which has forced scores of residents travel to long distances to reach health care facilities, that are usually crowded.
Nurses marched to the regional department of health against poor working conditions, describing the closure of many clinics as a burden on them.
Assistant Nurse at New Brighton Clinic Nomonde Fanele says they work under very difficult conditions.
“As a nurse you must be a nurse, a social worker and must calm patients because you need to do a thorough job. So they think that if you see a single patient for an hour, it’s your friend.”
Community members gathered to clean outside Helenvale Clinic, which has been closed for nearly two years now.
“We have people with chronic diseases and they are mostly elderly. So they are not able to have access to medication on a monthly basis as they were supposed to, when the clinic was still open and they are elderly. You must know that the people here predominantly depend on social grants and income. So those elderly people do not have money to take them to clinic,” they say.
The health department says it’s paying close attention to this issue and gang violence has influenced the decision to close some clinics.
