Masuku on a mission to turn around Gauteng’s healthcare services

The new Gauteng health MEC, Dr Bandile Masuku, is determined to turn the beleaguered provincial health system around and believes the community health workers are the basis for access to health care services in the province.

Within a few months of being appointed to the hot seat, Masuku hit the ground running and visited hospitals and clinics with a history of poor service delivery. One of those was Sebokeng Zone 13 clinic as part of his commitment to doing clinical work one day a month.

As part of the MEC’s 100 days programme of action, Dr Masuku joined a team of community health workers (CHW), a programme introduced by his department to deal with overcrowding at Gauteng hospitals and clinics as a basis for health care services in the community. The program targets patients suffering from chronic illnesses and relying on medication daily.

The CHW work includes responding to the health needs of the community where they do door-to-door visits, raising awareness about diseases and conducting health promotion activities.

Dr Masuku said the CHW had to be the prioritised as it was the foundation of a good health care system in the province.

“This affirms what I believe about the importance of community health workers in our health care system, they need to be given enough resources and equipment for this program to be functional. I am really encouraged that we have to do this more often,” Masuku said.

Sebokeng Zone 13 clinic operates with 20 CHW who visit patients once a month to deliver medication and check their health conditions. Most people who are on the program are old people who rely on chronic medication.

Masuku promised to work on providing the CHW the necessary resources they needed including uniform and increase of stipend.

Mariam Magashule, 72, who was visited by Dr Masuku and his entourage, was more than delighted to see the MEC at her house.

“The health care workers are really doing their job. Look at me, I am 72 years old but I am still strong and healthy because they make sure that I have my correct medication and I only go to the clinic if I have a major problem,” she said.

Although the patients were satisfied with the service they received, the clinic still had many challenges that caused a barrier to the functionality of the system. But with the MEC’s visit, workers were hoping to see some improvements in their situation and the conditions they worked under.

Branch office barrier leader of Zone 13, Tshepiso Dingalo, 44, was also confident in the MEC’s work.

“We are very excited that the MEC visited us today at Zone 13 clinic to see the challenges that we have and to also see how we do households visits. We believe that whatever he promised us he will deliver.

“Since 2016, MECs have been promising us improvements but nothing came of it. We are glad that the newly deployed MEC is active and he makes things happen,” Dingalo said.

The workers were concerned about the distance they had to travel fearing their safety. “We walk very long distances when we deliver the medication and some areas are not safe. We have a shortage of BP machines to check patients and we are forced to borrow from each other, she said.

 – news@citizen.co.za

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