‘I have to take four taxis and it costs me R32 to get to Odi Hospital and back, it is a heavy burden for us,’ complained Ms Zanele Madlisa, a patient at Kgabo.
Kobus Msiza, an unemployed man from Winterveld said it took him nearly one and a half hours to walk to the hospital, and all the while he was experiencing chest pains. ‘The government does not take us seriously. How can they expect us to walk to George Mukhari hospital and back for an x-ray?’ complained Msiza.
A community health worker with one of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) providing home based care in the area said that several of the patients they sent to Kgabo clinic just don’t receive care, because they are referred to other hospitals, but are either too sick, or don’t have the money to get there.
A clinic committee member, who didn’t want to be named, expressed his dissatisfaction with the Department of Health because various requests by the clinic, including for repairs to the X-ray machine, has not been addressed. ‘They don’t take us seriously, but they want us to have meetings and submit reports,’ he said.
Ironically an NGO near Kgabo Clinic, Hope for Life, offers X-ray services, but patients from the clinic is not being referred because there is no referral network between the two clinics. ‘ OurHealth/Health-e News
Mishack Mahlangu is an OurHealth Citizen Journalist reporting from the Tshwane health district in Gauteng.
