The Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba officially opened the newly refurbished Thoko Mngoma Clinic in Alexandra.
This clinic was built as part of the Alexandra Renewal Project to replace the Porta Cabin Clinic that was erected as an interim solution to provide primary health care services in the informal settlement of Setswetla, Alexandra that is located near the old Alexandra Cemetery.
The MMC for Economic Development, Councillor Leak Knott said that the emphasis on primary health care will help reduce the strain on hospitals. “The clinic building programme aims at having a clinic within walking distance of every household,” said Knott.
Speaking during the launch, Mashaba said, “I am happy that the project created 109 jobs in the ward during construction.”
Following a R40 million refurbishment and extension, the clinic now boasts 22 consulting rooms, an expanded emergency room, waiting area and a redesign of the dispensary room among other top new features.
Mashaba added, “The upgrading of this clinic is perhaps the single best example of the lengths the City of Johannesburg will go to ensure that residents are exposed to the very best in primary healthcare services.”
The clinic also offers extended hours of service, operating from 7am to 4pm on weekdays, excluding public holidays, and from 7.30am to 1.30pm on Saturdays.
Extended clinic hours of service has changed the face of primary health care by providing for an integrated and holistic focus on the well-being of communities, ensuring preventative as well as curative health services across all age groups. On average, a total of 11 957 clients were accessing the clinics during the extended hour of services per month.
There has been a significant improvement in the patient waiting times, with the average being just less than 2 hours across all clinics, including those that do not offer extended hours of service against a target of 2.5 hours.
MMC for Healthy and Social Development in the City of Joburg Councillor Mpho Phalatse said the clinic was named after a heroine who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of the downtrodden. Thoko Mngoma was a founding member of the Federation of South African Women (Fedsaw), an organisation that advocated for the rights of women. The organisation played a key role in the emancipation of women when it joined leaders of the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria against the apartheid pass laws.
The clinic offers services such as HIV and TB related treatment and counselling, antiretroviral treatment, male circumcision and mental health treatment.
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