State clinic staff ‘just don’t care’ – Woman tells of battle to see a doctor

A staff shortages and backlogs on non-Covid emergencies at state clinics have left at least one Pretoria resident fuming.

Madelyn van der Merwe said she has been battling to see a doctor at the local East Lynne clinic since she moved to the city a year ago.

“On Monday the clinic was closed; today again. There is always an issue.”

Van der Merwe said had returned several times for an appointment but had yet to see a doctor or nurse. She suffers from high blood pressure, takes chronic medication and needs to be tested, Van der Merwe said.

“It’s Covid, no one has money, that’s why we go to the clinic for treatment – but then they tell you to buy medicine at the pharmacy.”

Van der Merwe said when she tried to lay a complaint with the clinic manager, she was told “they don’t care”.

“You have to make an appointment to see a nurse because they are busy doing Covid tests,” Van der Merwe complained.

She said when visiting the clinic, people had to use toilets at the community hall, which had no toilet paper or sanitiser.

“I have still not been helped and will go back to try again tomorrow,” Van der Merwe said.

The department of health had not commented by the time of publication.

Jack Bloom, Democratic Alliance Gauteng shadow health MEC, said there were existing problems at state clinics before
the Covid outbreak. Bloom said on top of the usual woes, he knew of instances where clinics had to use staff from other clinics to help with vaccinations.

“That is wrong. They should get supplementary staff and not use existing staff. That is a problem,” Bloom said.

Because not everyone was vaccinated, staff went on sick leave to isolate, adding to the pressure.

“One of every three health workers with symptoms test positive and they work directly with the public, so it’s very stressful,” Bloom said.

The chances of cross-infections at clinics and testing stations were high, he claimed. Another problem clinics faced was a backlog of “normal illnesses” because patients were getting tested later than they would have before the pandemic.

“Post-Covid, we are going to face a huge backlog of diagnoses because a lot of patients who should have gone to clinics for non-Covid illnesses such as HIV and TB stayed away from hospitals and clinics because they were too scared to go because of the virus,” Bloom said.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za