Life-threatening situation at a R’fontein clinic
'We feel that the people who are working with the system are not doing their work'
The Gauteng portfolio committee recently visited a government clinic in Randfontein where they found the clinic had a lot of faulty equipment and with next to no maintenance plan in place.
Although the clinic was clean the committee team led by Chairman of the Gauteng portfolio, Lindiwe Lasindwa was in shock after they entered the labour ward. The oxygen control panels used to aid mothers and newborn babies during and after labour were not functional.
The damage at the clinic was reported via the e-maintenance system in November last year but nothing has been done about it since. The boom and motor gate at the entrance to the clinic is broken, last year. The glass panels of a door in the main passageway are also still broken. This, too, had been reported in November.
The only progress that was noticed, was in the fixing of door handles, tiles and taps. Acting facilities manager, Jeaneth Kunene said the lack of functioning equipment meant the staff worked under pressure.
A new boiler in the kitchen has been installed but it has not been connected to the pipes. “The broken generator is the biggest problem,” Kunene said.
A maintenance report indicated the staff at the clinic made several calls to the department for the generator’s repair.
“They sent mechanics who fixed it but after that it just broke again. Mechanics then told us that the generator has reached its lifespan limit. This is a huge problem because incubators have to be kept warm for newborn babies.When there is a lack of power it becomes a life threatening situation,” she said.
Staff at the clinic were recently in the process of delivering a baby in the evening when they were hit by load shedding at around 7pm. They were left in the dark but were fortunate enough to have successfully delivered a baby.
Lasindwa said, “In this clinic they do not have a log-in channel. They still have to report their issues manually to somebody else who must log the problem for them. Here at Mohlakeng e-maintenance is not functioning at all. We feel that the people who are working with the system are not doing their work.”
