A group of upset residents protested and burned tyres over the closing of the Khutsong West Clinic this week.

The clinic is set to close from May 1 due to ground stability issues, and patients are being referred to other clinics in Khutsong.

“I am 81 years old and cannot walk. They want to send me to the Khutsong Main Clinic, but it is too far. How do they expect me to get there? I do not know how I will survive,” lamented Dinah Johanna Mlambisa, one of the residents who gathered outside the clinic on Friday.

“The staff at the other clinics say they do not want us there, because they are already too full,” another patient complained.

“The government made this decision without proper consultation with the patients. This is unfair. We want a resolution from them, not more problems,” complains another resident, Bethuel Magwebu.

Several residents also complain that they just do not have the money to pay for transport to other clinics. According to many of the residents, they feel that the Gauteng Department of Health can consider other alternatives to just sending the patients to other clinics. They feel that senior officials made the decision to close the clinic without ever coming to check what problems patients would experience.

“There is a large building that is not being used at the ZCC Church. Why can they not use this to help patients?” Magwebu wondered.

The ZCC Church is only two blocks away from the Khutsong West Clinic. Another possible alternative is to send mobile clinics to the affected patients.

Some of the upset residents told the Herald that they protested on Friday because the time to make alternative plans is running out.

After some residents met with officials at the clinic, a ward councillor, Wandi Nkabinde, told the upset patients that they can continue to draw up a petition with their grievances and may picket in front of the clinic as long as they do so peacefully and do not affect the rights of other patients or staff. He also asked that they not burn tyres as it may affect patients and other people with lung issues.

Although the Herald contacted the spokesperson of the Gauteng Department of Health, Thuso Montwedi, about the matter, no feedback was received by printing time.