Absent clerk brings clinic to standstill
Patients were left stranded after the clinic's clerk pulled a no-show on Saturday morning. Some were sent home without being attended to because they had no access to their files.
MANGWENI – A queue of people was visible upon entry, as they had no clue what was going on.
“We are just standing here and hoping that someone will communicate with us, but it seems like everyone is just going about with their business, we don’t know what to do,” said one stranded patient.
Mpumalanga News was on the scene, and when the journalist enquired about the empty front desk and the files, she was told that the clerk had taken the day off because he was not well.
A story which was contradictory, as the paper was later told that it was actually his wife who was sick, and not him.
Before he realised that the newspaper was there, one of the nurses, who was asked by some patients about the front desk said, “I’m not a clerk, it is not my job to deal with files, I don’t know what is going on here.”
Two TB patients who were turned back expressed their dissatisfaction and disappointment about the service they had received from the clinic. “I have depleted my medicine; I came here for a refill.
I’m told I should go back and not because there’s no medicine, but because someone decided not to come to work. It’s dangerous to default on medicine when you have TB, but right now I have no other alternative. I just have to go back home,” said one of them.
The health department has condemned the actions by the clinic, and called for the situation to be remedied immediately.
“This is not how it should be done; the people should receive adequate service. The regional leadership is fixing the situation right now and the people will now be assisted to get their files and the help they need,” said Mr Chris Nobela, its media liaison officer.
As it seemed, the department saved the day and had the clinic staff on their toes who saw to it that the people received the help they needed.
