Just weeks after Brackenhurst Clinic made headlines, patients have also vented their frustration about Alberton North’s municipal clinic.
In addition to unattended long queues, the health-care facility’s service delivery is dissatisfactory, according to Verwoerd Park pensioner Patrick Mandlathi.
He said he once found the clinic closed without any notices, and after numerous attempts to contact the clinic its contact numbers did not go through. Mandlathi said although the clinic works on a booking system, appointments mean nothing to the health-care facility.
“I am a chronic patient, bound to make appointments to collect my medication. But here you queue like any other person from 9am and only collect medication at 2pm. I find it very difficult to understand how the clinic functions,” he said.
He also said the clinic has lost his records at least three times and did not know which medications to issue at the time. Luckily, he had a photo of his medication.
In response to the complaints, City of Ekurhuleni’s spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, said the appointment system is adhered to at the clinic.
“The challenge is caused by patients who do not come on their appointment dates. The Alberton North Clinic functions under the Covid-19 guidelines on social distancing, where only a limited number of clients are allowed inside the facility,” he said.
On the day of the complaint, Dlamini said the clinic had some nurses on isolation and quarantine due to Covid-19 infections and that caused clients to wait for a long time. He also assured that patients’ records are retrieved according to the streams and that medical records for chronic patients are pre-retrieved 72 hours before.
“Sometimes, files of clients are misfiled but the policy of the department is that no one should be turned away without service. The department has recently implemented a new continuity system where mobile clinics are brought inside the premises during fumigation,” said Dlamini.
Leon Hattingh, also a patient who resides in Kempton Park, strongly suggested that the clinic builds a shelter and cement seats for the elderly and frail.
