It’s been a couple of months since some clinics in Mangaung which used to operate 24 hours a day have cut back on emergency services that were available after hours. Winnie Mandela Clinic (Rouxville Clinic), Itumeleng Clinic in Botshabelo and MUCCP in Phelindaba now only offer maternity services on a 24-hour basis. 

This shift has angered residents who say the changes weren’t communicated. 

Teboho Seliane from Botshabelo says he learned of the changes on New Year’s even when his brother needed emergency medical care. “My brother was turned away from Winnie Mandela clinic after he was stabbed. We were turned away at the gate by a security guard who failed to call an ambulance for my brother,” he says.

Seliane’s family had to make other arrangements to get his brother to a hospital, luckily he survived. Another family faced a similar situation earlier this year. 

At around 9:30 on the night of 2 January 2025, Malefu Monnapula, (19) took her ailing father to MUCCP,  but the security guards refused them entry.  She says her father has TB and had some type of attack that night.

“I begged the security guard to open the gate for us and he refused. He told me the clinic was not helping with casualties and emergencies unless it was women giving birth,” Monnapula says. She adds that at the time her father was lying on the paving in front of the facility, unconscious.

“I asked him to call an ambulance for my father, and he aggressively said he was not given airtime,” she says.

Monnapula asked passersby who had phones to call an ambulance for her father but it never came. 

“We had to wait until around midnight when a taxi came and took us home. I’m not happy because MUCCP was providing a key service by helping the sick at night.” 

 ‘Ambulance was called’

Free State Department of Health spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi says Monnapula was taken to the hospital by a good Samaritan. “An ambulance was called to attend to the patient but did not find him because the family made other arrangements after being told about the reduced hours,” he says.

The taxi driver who helped Monnapula and her father, Serame Kometsi of Rocklands,  recounts the incident. 

“I came across a deeply disturbing scene at MUCCP Clinic in Phelindaba. An elderly and sick man was lying outside the gates with his children by his side, and did not receive help. The gates were locked and security refused them entry claiming that they only assist women giving birth” he says.

“This was not just traumatic to the family but was inhumane from the side of the guard who could’ve at least allowed them into the facility and called an ambulance for them.  Is it even acceptable in a public health facility that is known to be working 24/7 to deny people entry,” says Kometsi.

The father is doing well after being hospitalised for three weeks.

“This should be a wake-up call, we cannot let these things go unnoticed and unreported, our people cannot be prevented from entering places they need help from. Both the MEC of Health and the Minister should answer why a man was left helpless in front of the clinic gate yet the facility was open. Who gave an order not to open for them? Our people deserve better healthcare,” Kometsi says.

Need to review operating hours

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is calling for a review of the time of service at the facility. According to Setlogelo Moloabi a member of the TAC Clinic Committee, the MUCCP shouldn’t have changed operating times in the first place.

“The clinic provides services to over 50,000 people of Phelindaba and surrounding areas. We still need it to operate  24 hours a day,” Moloabi says.

Mvambi explains that operating hours at these facilities had to change because of staff shortages. 

Free State Health MEC Viceroy Mahlatsi says his department is struggling to retain staff. “We are working hard to urge our children to study nursing so they can help our Public Health Care System,” Mahlatsi says. – Health-e News