Health department yet to announce date for clinic’s opening
Orchards Clinic staff members were seen preparing and setting up for work at the facility while waiting for the health department to announce date of opening.
The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has completed the development of the Orchards Clinic in Oaklands.
The construction of the clinic has seen many challenges since the commencement of its development in 2015, resulting in delays in the project.
JDA senior project manager Nombuso Mtsweni took the Gazette on a tour of the now completed multi-million-rand clinic on August 30. On the day, staff members could be seen setting up in readiness for work, however, the exact date for the opening of the clinic to the public was not revealed. Mtsweni said the JDA had completed its role and the rest was now left to the health department.
The facility has parking for staff members, storage areas, security guard rooms and waiting areas for patients. Mtsweni said there was also a triage area which is ‘used to assess the urgency of ailments’.
He added, “It is colour-coded in green, yellow or red; red being the most severe, yellow being mild and green means you can wait for a while. But if you are red coded then you need to be taken up and attended to quicker. In the waiting area, we have an electronic ticketing system where patients’ numbers are shown on the monitors.”
She added there was an emergency wing where patients could be isolated, hydrated or resuscitated. Mtsweni said the consulting rooms, about 18 of them, were colour-labelled according to their various services.
“There is a courtyard outside for youth activities and staff meetings. Youth can come in after school for whatever activities are scheduled. On the courtyard walls, there is artwork for health promotion messages. The theme for this clinic is gender-based violence so artwork, done by local artists portrays a message related to that.”
The previous clinic on the site was demolished but part of the building referred to as a ‘heritage wall’ was preserved as part of the new building.
The health department was contacted regarding the opening of the new clinic but it had not responded by the time of going to press.
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