BARBERTON – The local community is crying foul over the delayed long searches at the local hospital gates.
“I understand that they are doing their job, but sometimes they need to loosen up and learn to think of the people too. They said we must get out of the cars so that they can search us or go through the screening process because they want to make sure that we don’t have illegal items or dangerous weapons in our possession before we can enter.
“Where are you suppose to get the energy to stand upright if you don’t feel well,” said a patient.
This came after some patients, especially those using private cars, complained about the traffic jam at the gate that was allegedly caused by the screening process.
Speaking to Mpumalanga News, a complainant who requested not to be named said, “I decided to come to the hospital because I was not feeling well and my friend offered me a lift.
When we arrived, it was chaos due to traffic. One of the security guards requested to search the car and after that he said we
need to get out for the screening process. I told him that I can’t do
that and I tried several times to explain my situation because I was
feeling hot and dizzy, but it was just a waste of time as he told me that they won’t allow me to enter.
The provincial spokesperson for health, Mr Dumisani Malamule said,
“It’s true that the screening process poses a challenge.
I’d like to urge our people to bear with us because the process is part and parcel of the security measures of the department to ensure that patients are always safe in our health institutions or hospitals. We want to make sure that our patients
and staff are safe’’.
Malamule added that the security yguards were not only screening ordinary people, even the MEC for the department, Mr Gillion Mashego had to go through the process whenever he visited hospitals.
