The City of Johannesburg has announced that it has now rolled out a strategy to extend the hours of service to four additional clinics.
The City said the rolling out of extended hours of service to additional clinics is part of its mission to improve access to primary health care services to the communities.
Residents of Midrand West, Elias Motsoaledi, Windsor and Lenasia Ext 2, will now enjoy extended hours of service at their local clinics.
MMC for Health and Social Development Mpho Phalatse said, “The rollout of this programme has given hope to our residents that indeed a day will come when we will throw away the keys to all our clinics. With the support and dedication of the City’s Health and Social Development team, the current administration has managed to extend this generous offering to 26 of our clinics, and the plan is to bring this number to 36 by the end of the 2019/20 financial year.”
The MMC said between November 2016 and May this year, a total of 1 991 614 patients were seen at the clinics offering extended hours of service. Of these, 18.8 per cent (374 835) were seen during the extended hours.
She added that the City has 79 fixed primary healthcare (PHC) clinics that render a comprehensive package of primary health care services to the community, historically over 5 days a week, Monday to Friday. The operating hours varied from clinic to clinic, ranging from 07.30am to 4pm and 8am to 4.30pm.
“We are not legislated to offer a 24-hour health care service, but through the steps we are taking, more and more of our clinics will operate until late in the evening and this service will be rolled out as per available budget. “It is such an honour to be part of a team that’s revolutionising healthcare in the City of Johannesburg. Hearing testimonies of complications and deaths averted as a direct result of this intervention affirms that this is a move long overdue, and one that the City should continue to invest heavily in. We will continue to empower the health system to adequately meet the needs of our residents. After all – a healthy city is a working city.”
Related article: https://www.citizen.co.za/midrand-reporter/216730/midrand-west-clinic-gets-extended-hours/
