Preliminary reports suggest patient numbers have declined at some Gauteng clinics following anti-immigration protests.
Associate professor Jo Vearey and Gauteng health officials say more data is needed before linking declining clinic numbers to foreigners leaving South Africa. Picture: iStock
South Africa’s struggling healthcare system is not caused by undocumented foreign nationals, but they are adding to the problem, according to experts.
Jo Vearey, an associate professor and co-director of the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University, said: “It would be premature to attribute these trends to any single factor until a detailed analysis of the data has been completed.
Caution against blaming migrants
“It is not true that immigrants are the cause of South Africa’s healthcare problem. The narrative that undocumented migrants are to blame for all failures of the state to deliver on what they should be delivering, whether it’s socioeconomic development or access to quality social services, including health care, is scapegoating migrants.”
Vearey said the clinics that had long queues were mostly in the city centre because that’s where most foreigners were based.
She said that after Operation Dudula denied foreigners access to the clinics, most opted for other options.
Clinic queues reportedly ease
Research conducted by The Citizen in clinics around Ivory Park and Kaalfontein near Midrand showed that documented and undocumented migrants were no longer going to public healthcare centres because they were denied access in violation of United Nations’ stipulations.
“We used to have long queues, but that stopped after some activists started to demand that patients produce identity documents before entering the facility. Since then everything has been going well,” said a nurse who opted for anonymity as she is not authorised to talk to the media.
An elderly patient who has been getting medication at the Kaalfontein Clinic said: “When I started taking medication, there was chaos but now the service is good.”
A foreign national interviewed by The Citizen confirmed they were instead going to local pharmacies and cheap private clinics.
Gauteng health monitors patient numbers
The Gauteng department of health said it was currently consolidating data from about 300 public health facilities and was not yet in a position to provide an assessment of an impact on patient volumes associated with the repatriation of foreigners.
“But preliminary reports from facilities in the Johannesburg and Tshwane district health services indicate a decrease in patient volumes at some facilities from 26 to 29 June and 30 June to 3 July,” said department spokesperson Steve Mabona.
