Nurses say it is only a matter of time before the lack of ambulance access to the clinic endangers patients

Nurses say it is only a matter of time before the lack of ambulance access to the clinic endangers patients

Makonde Clinic outside Thohoyandou has become totally inaccessible to cars on rainy days due to the poor condition of the clinic’s gravel road. Clinic nurses say the road, which turns to mud during the rainy season, makes it difficult to transfer their patients to hospital.

“Ambulances cannot get in here during rainy days,” one nurse said. “It’s difficult to transfer patients, especially the critical ones, as we have to walk them to the tar road which is almost a kilometre from here.”

She said that without a tar road, it was only a matter of time before patients’ lives at risk.

“If this road is not tarred up to the clinic, we will end up having a pregnant woman giving birth on the way,” she said.

Vhembe District Municipality Spokesperson Matodzi Ralushai told OurHealth that the district is engaging with the Department of Transport to address the issue.

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