The traffic department in Krugersdorp is not strategically placed. It is on the outskirts [of town] or in the middle of nowhere. People who have no transport struggle to get there. Many have complained about this but the complaints have fallen on deaf ears. That said, the good news is that government is building a traffic department in Kagiso. People in the area and from outside will be able to reach the department with great ease. The department is being built in the main street, where public transport is accessible.
However, I am concerned that the traffic department is being built where a clinic stood before. I fail to understand how government can mow down a clinic and build a traffic department. In my book, the health of the people comes first.
Patients who used to go to Fanyana Nhlapo Clinic have been transferred to the Kid Maponya clinic near the Sonap garage. That means the Kid Maponya clinic is overstretched. I can tell you now that the clinic is not coping. Ask anyone who has been there lately, he or she will tell you.
The government is talking about improving health services to the level of private hospitals. It is in the process of introducing a NHI, a system that will improve service. NHI is an excellent idea, though many medical doctors I have spoken to say it won’t fly, for various reasons.
However, our government is talking left but walking right. The health care service is the worst in our country. When you go to a public hospital, it takes more than 6 hours to see the doctor. Some patients even die before the doctor sees them. That’s how bad things are.
It is not fair that patients (including the elderly) have to go to the clinic as early as six in the morning so they can be first in the queue. And the clinic only opens at eight. Nurses, who are overworked, will start working thirty minutes or an hour late. Is that first class service?
A government that doesn’t prioritise the health of its citizens in uncaring. Is it because our political leaders go to private hospitals when they are sick? Have they forgotten about the masses who have put them in power? The struggle continues.
