Poor service at clinic angers patients

Over the past two weeks, social media has been flooded with complaints over service issues at Gamalakhe Community Health Centre, also known as Gamalakhe Clinic.

Members of the community say that the waiting hours at the clinic are ridiculous, and staff are allegedly reluctant to do their jobs.

According to posts published on a social media news platform last week, the community has voiced that they arrive at the clinic in the early hours of the morning and sometimes end up going home without being attended to.

One patient said she arrived at the clinic at 06:00 and waited in the queue for her file to be issued and at 16:00, it still had not been issued.

“I waited the whole day only to be told at 16:00 to come back the next day, as the staff were packing their bags to go home. This matter has been ongoing for some years now and the leadership of the clinic has been made aware of it, however nothing is being done,” said the patient who did not want to be named.

A parent who took a child to the clinic said that there was no order at all. “Children and adults have to wait in the same queue which is unfair. The children get hungry, I believe that it would be better if children had a separate queue, “said the mother.

On the day she went to fetch her child’s results from the doctor’s room, however ended up waiting the entire day, only to be told that the results were not ready and she should return another day.

The clinic has a complaints box system which seems to be dysfunctional as complaints are not being attended to. The contact numbers of the CEO and PRO are posted on a wall, still the problem persists.

The community has now threatened to take the matter to the streets, to get the necessary attention.
A community activist, Mpume Mbono said he and other community members had assessed the situation at the clinic and found that the filing system is a major problem, and that the administration department is understaffed.

“The clinic is facing a challenge with the sorting and management of patient files. They are still using the old system, not computerised which makes it difficult for three staff members to look through all the patients’ files.

Also, Gamalakhe CHC is now taking patients from all other smaller clinics and it makes it difficult for them to handle the pressure with just three admin staff,” said Mbono.
He said that the government should look into hiring more staff.
Mbono said as community activists they have a plan to assist the clinic.

“We have resolved to get youth from Gamalakhe with the necessary admin skills to volunteer their services. We have been in talks with the CHC leadership and probably by next week, the volunteers will start assisting,” said Mbono.

The Department of Health was contacted for comment, however none was received at the time of going to print.

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