LETTER: Disgruntled resident slams Alberton North Clinic
An Alberton North patient has expressed her dissatisfaction with Alberton North Clinic following her visit to the primary healthcare facility.
Alberton North Clinic is always closed. Their excuse is a shortage of staff. It’s either they close at 12:00, 13:00, 14:00 or 15:00, while it is supposed to close at 16:00.
They are also rude and refuse to talk to patients in need of help and medication. They do not talk or communicate what the issue is – Monday to Friday they are always closed.
The staff inside pass patients and do not communicate; they also prefer to leave elderly people waiting outside. This happens continuously; sometimes they say it’s a shortage of medication.
We as Alberton residents need to know what’s going on with Alberton North Clinic. We are now complaining because they need to answer.
Disgruntled resident.
Metro’s response
Zweli Dlamini, City of Ekurhuleni’s spokesperson, said service hours at Alberton North Clinic are from 08:00 to 16:30 from Mondays to Fridays.
“Clients are divided into service streams in line with the guidelines for Integrated Clinical Service Management (ICSM) and patients are attended to immediately to avoid overcrowding in the waiting areas. The field worker gives health education every morning and the chief professional nurse continuously updates clients on staff situations and delays,” he explained.
He told the Alberton Record interruptions and delays of services are caused by load-shedding.
Dlamini reiterated that the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) guideline on the management of the elderly and the frail is implemented at Alberton Civic Centre Clinic.
“A dedicated professional nurse is delegated daily to manage the fast queue for the elderly and frail clients. Alberton North Clinic does not only provide services to clients within its catchment population, but also to clients from areas such as Katlehong, Thokoza, the City of Johannesburg and others. The flow of clients from neighbouring areas increases the patients’ waiting time,” Dlamini said.
The manager nursing service manager will reportedly schedule a meeting with staff to address the said complaint and the ‘attitude of personnel’.
