Clinic opening officiated by mayor

I am glad that this day has finally come. We have been waiting for this day with bated breath because we understand the importance of this facility to the lives of our people.

There could not have been a better day to open this facility than this being World Aids Day. I shall come back later to say a few words about HIV and Aids as it continues to ravage our communities.

As a city we take pride in officially opening this clinic to the public. Having said that I must voice, on behalf of the city, our sincere appreciation to Gold One for coming through for us in this fashion.

As a staunch advocate of partnerships I know that government alone can only do so much but through such partnerships we can achieve even more and better.

Today we live to witness the true spirit of a partnership that works, and we wish other companies in our space can follow suit so that together we can take Ekurhuleni forward.

It was in 2007 when we constructed the old clinic in this area. A few years ago it became evident that the facility was becoming too small to handle the throngs of people who needed health care.

The situation was comprehended by the ever-increasing population in the area and soon the clinic was struggling to render primary health care services. Despite being stretched to the limit the city continued providing this critical service to the public albeit under severe pressure.

During the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process a couple of years back, our people renewed their call for a much bigger clinic and recorded this as a major priority. The city resolved that a level two clinic would be better but lack of resources put the spanner on the works.

However, realising the urgency of the new facility we turned to the private sector and this led to the intervention by Gold One International LTD – Modder East Operations. After constructive discussions between the company and the municipality represented by MMC Khosi Mabaso, the company came to the party and R25 million later, today we are here to celebrate the opening of the new-look Daveyton East Clinic, which has been built as an extension of the old clinic.

 The clinic will operate from 7.30am to 4.30pm from Monday to Friday and it is anticipated that it will serve just over a 100 000 people per year. In the previous year, while still under construction the clinic served just over 70 000 residents and there is no doubt that with it being fully operation, the number will surely go up.

Having pointed out these figures, I want to put it on record that for me we would have won the battle against ill-health the day when the number of people visiting our facilities has dropped drastically – because when that happens it will be a demonstration of a healthy community.

Our staff compliment at this new facility will include a manager, professional and enrolled nurses, dietician, and a sessional medical practitioner and health promoters. We shall be providing among others child, maternal, women’s health, HIV and Aids, STIs, mental and rehabilitation services.

The facility will also offer ward-based outreach programmers, HIV counselling and testing, rehabilitation and the general treatment of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

As we continue to promote the culture of healthy lifestyle, the facility will also handle social issues like domestic violence, child-related problems, teenage pregnancy, unemployment and substance abuse among others.

In pursuit of user-friendliness, efficiency and professionalism at our clinics, we are steadily migrating to e-health. In this regard over 40 of our clinics have already gone digital.

This innovation has already resulted in the introduction of the SMS service to remind chronic patients of their next consultation dates, thus prolonging their lives. These clinics now employ the electronic registration of patients, which has significantly reduced the queuing time.

It is our envisaged end state that in the near future all our clinics are paperless – eliminating the sometimes clandestine filing system for digital. We want a situation that will enable our residents to access health care in every part of the city without having to worry about their files as their data would have been captured and saved in a universal system.

I know that that it is not a coincidence that this clinic is officially opened on World Aids Day. This day affords us an opportunity to elevate the issue of HIV and Aids and once again remind our people that HIV and Aids is out there and continues to claim thousands of our people.

Our government’s comprehensive plan to deal with HIV and Aids, which combines awareness, treatment and home-based care continues to be implemented with vigour by the Metro. In this regard all our Primary Health Care Facilities are implementing the Antiretroviral Therapy Programme with 151,042 patients initiated into Antiretroviral Therapy between July 2011 and December 2014.

The robust approach of the City on the HIV and AIDS Programme has contributed significantly to the reduction of new infections from 27 per cent in 2011 to 14 per cent by December last year.

The people of Ekurhuleni are indeed showing appreciation of our efforts to broaden primary health care services. However, I must add my voice to the call that prevention remains better than cure.

Young people continue to be among the thousands of South Africans that get infected every year. This situation cannot be right considering that HIV and Aids has been around us for many years now for us to understand the dos and don’ts.

Having said that, I say let us not lose hope and continue doing our best in this area.

We need to spread the word about prevention and encouraging all sexually-active South Africans to use condoms. We need to encourage people to test for HIV and TB. We must ensure that all those who need treatment receive treatment and that they remain on treatment.

Our country has the biggest HIV treatment programme in the world, with more than three million people on life-saving antiretrovirals. People are living longer and fewer people are dying of Aids and TB. Life expectancy has increased from 53 years in 2006 to just over 62 years in 2013. Mother-to-child transmission has also been reduced.

With strategic partners like NGOs the country has acted in various ways – big and small – to spread information, to fight stigma and to promote healthy lifestyles. We continue to make protection our priority and this is the spirit we must continue with.

However, the fight is not without its challenges, as the number of new HIV infections is still high, particularly among young women and girls.

The theme for this year’s World Aids Day is ‘Rise. Act. Protect.’. Let us indeed rise to the occasion and act and protect our community. The war against HIV and Aids is for all of us and we can only win it if we continue working together.

We must protect ourselves and those who are close to us. We must protect the vulnerable. We must combat the stigma attached to the illness and create an environment in which all can feel safe and comfortable to test and be treated. Let us promote the culture of knowing our status so that we can mitigate the threat before we lose more lives.

I thank you.

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