NAAS – Staff members of the local clinic are left to treat the chronically ill and casualty patients under a tree as the roof of the clinic had collapsed on January 5.
According to nurses who attempt to work under these conditions, electrical wires hanging from the ceiling pose a grave danger.
“These conditions are very dangerous for us and our patients. We cannot work in this building and had no choice but to move our everyday operations outside. Although two mobile clinics assist us, it is not enough. Every time it rains we can’t work. We can only thend to those in a chronic or critical state. The other patients are now forced to travel great distances by taxi to get their medicine. Most of them cannot afford the expenses,” said an attending nurse who wishes to remain anonymous.
“These patients are sometimes shown away at the other clinics as they too are already operating at full capacity as it is. We have phoned various people for assistance, including the SOD, MEC and manager, but to no avail.”
The manager of the Nkomazi clinics,
Mr Victor Gwebu, spoke to Corridor Gazette and explained, “This is a problem we are aware of and we have found a contractor to renovate the clinic. We plan to start construction early this week but we have no idea how long these renovations might take.”
Spokesman for the department of health, Mr Ronnie Masilela, expressed his concern to the newspaper.
“We are aware of the unfortunate condition of the Naas Clinic. The ceiling collapsed but fortunately no one was injured and no medication or equipment were damaged.
“Seeing that it does not permit services to be rendered inside the building, the department has put temporary plans in place to continue servicing the people of the surrounding areas.
Two mobile clinics have since been deployed on a full-time basis,” explained Masilela.
He added, “Other alternatives are being explored to ensure that service provision is not interrupted and the patients’ privacy is prioritised.
“A contractor has been appointed to fix the work on the ceiling. We want to request our patients to please bear with us during this time as the matter is being attended to.”
