City responds to complaints about poor service at Bedfordview Clinic

The City of Ekurhuleni has responded to the residents’ concerns regarding the state of the Bedfordview Clinic.

On the allegations of corruption, CoE’s spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the allegations were serious even though management was not aware of it.

“We condemn this in the strongest possible terms. This needs extensive investigations and the victims disclosing the corruption so that appropriate disciplinary action can be taken. Anyone with evidence is encouraged to blow the whistle and this can be done anonymously.”

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He added that management will also investigate.

According to the city, patients start queuing outside the gate as early as 06:00 with the security officers opening the gates at 06:45 since the clerks and general workers start arriving around that time.

“As they arrive at 07:00, the two clerical staff start with collecting patients’ carry-cards, retrieving patients’ files and opening new files. During this time, the patients are still inside the yard,” said Dlamini.

“The one general worker also takes the responsibility of the queue marshalling role as the other four contract workers continue with early morning cleaning of the facility.

“The clinic also has a health promoter who arrives at 07:30. The promoter deals with providing information, such as service delays or staff shortages, health promotion and all health education activities within the clinic,” said Dlamini.

CoE said primary health care services are offered according to the three streams of services – acute, chronic and MNCWH – per the number of professional nurses each day.

“The public must not promote corruption by handing money and gifts to the officials in return for a favour,” he said.

He admitted that the facility does experience staff shortages from time to time especially due to planned or unplanned leaves, training and meetings.

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There are three unfilled vacancies.

In terms of poor hygiene and safety, Dlamini said repairs and maintenance of facilities are escalated by the Real Estate Department (RED) through the support service division as and when there is a need.

He said on February 13 three toilets and two urinals were repaired but two days later, they were leaking again, and that works orders were resent.

“Grass cutting or yard maintenance is also executed by service providers.

“There has been no activity due to delays in tendering systems hence no allocations of service providers.

“However, the general workers also clean the yard to the limit of their capabilities and equipment to do so.”

According to Dlamini, only recently did the Parks Department allocate one or two personnel for garden maintenance once or even twice a week.

“Patient experience of care is conducted annually according to health standards, where patients are chosen randomly and given forms to complete that ask about their experiences in the clinic. The last PEC 2023/2024 was conducted at the Bedfordview clinic in July last year.

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“The facility obtained an overall 88% satisfaction from patients, which leaves room for improvement,” he explained.

Residents are encouraged to specifically identify unprofessional personnel and immediately alert the facility manager or the primary health care management.

All corruption complaints can be forwarded to the following managers: facility manager Thandi Mapalakanye on 011 999 0077 or 084 309 9074 and sub-district manager nursing service Thabiso Bookholane on 082 337 9353.