Patients in Botshabelo in the Free State say they’ve been denied healthcare by staff at Potlako Motlohi clinic. Since mid-February clinic staff have been telling them that they cannot be helped due to the data-capturing computer system being offline.   

Tshokolo Sanda says on Thursday 20 February, he and other patients spent more than eight hours at the facility before being turned away.  

“I suspect workers were only punishing us, how can they leave us from 6 o’clock in the morning to late at 3pm and tell us to come back the next day when the system is working. Then they say they are not sure if it will be working,” he says.

He adds that leaving patients unattended left them angered as they thought things could be done manually.

“Before the computers were brought in there were books which we used to be registered in. What’s stopped them from writing our names in the book and putting it in the computer later when the system is back online?” 

Frustrations reached a boiling point when staff and patients nearly came to blows.  

One of the patients was Thabelo Ramosoeu, who was meant to receive chronic medication. He says there was no need for workers to remain in the clinic while not working and letting patients wait without being helped.

“In the past weeks, the lady who is doing data capturing was involved in a public spat with patients who accused her of having a bad attitude. My anger is that if the system is off why can’t they do things like they used to do before computers? We are being taken like fools by people who think they know more than us,” Ramosoeu says.

Calls for intervention

Another patient, Busisiwe Ramphalla, threatened to take matters up with the Office of Public Protector.

“Ms Mayo is not fit to be the manager of this facility.  How did she decide that we won’t get help because of a non-working computer system? Does she understand all of us have problems that require medical attention? I will write a letter to different government institutions including the office of the MEC of Health and Public Protector because they are playing with our lives,” Ramphalla says.

A member of the ward committee responsible for health, Dina Maphike, says she understands why patients are angry. “This is not new, in January we held a meeting with workers after we were called to intervene when patients were accusing workers of dragging feet to help them,” she tells Health-e News. “The same data capturer was also the person whom patients were complaining about.”

 Secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) in Mangaung, Teboho Thabane tells Health-e News that they have received many complaints about a lack of services at the facility.

“Patients complain about the same thing every day. We have made the office of Health MEC Mahlatsi aware. We will close down the clinic and we will demand the redeployment of workers to other clinics,” Thabane says.

The Department of Health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi did not respond to our queries about the situation at Potlako Motlohi clinic. The facility is visited by around 200 patients a day, with many of them walking over 12 km to access services.  – Health-e News