WITH its small but dedicated committee, the Westville Clinic is making great strides in providing community health services in the Westville area.
The clinic, located at the intersection of Norfolk Terrace and Cedar Rd, is a small facility that deals with outpatients suffering from runny noses to TB and HIV/AIDS.
The clinic is headed up by the able Sister Jane Mlangeni. She and her dedicated staff battle every day to assist those without private medical aid in the Westville area.
Like all medical facilities, the challenges are numerous – inadequate signage, waste removal, insufficient technology and leaking ceilings.
Ward 18 councillor, Tim Brauteseth, has joined the committee to further its drive to become a first class service delivery point.
“Despite a severe lack of funding, we will be hard at work mobilising all available resources from province and the municipality to improve the work and capacity of the clinic. I will also be motivating for the deployment of two field workers who visit domestic workers and gardeners in the Westville area to alert them to the existence of the clinic and its programmes. These field workers will also be responsible for assisting outpatients with self medication at their places of work, thereby avoiding the need for downtime and expensive transport to the clinic,” said Brauteseth.
The clinic recently completed a highly successful polio immunisation campaign at all pre-schools in the Westville area. The committee also succeeded in having a waiting area awning erected to give patients relief from the sun while waiting for medical care.
Brauteseth called on any residents who wanted to join the committee to contact him at ward18@ethekwini.org.
