According to Dawid’s mother Hester Jacobs, he went to the Springs Clinic behind the Civic Centre, to make an appointment for a doctor to sign his disability grant forms for Sassa, but when he arrived at the clinic he was told in a very unfriendly manner, that Sr Gabby was not there to help him and the doctor was not available.
“The person at the clinic yelled and shouted at him and did not listen to his explanation of the Sassa forms that need to be signed urgently,” said Hester.
“He was in tears and the woman just made another appointment for him on September 4,” says Hester.
She adds that at the time Dawid got home, he went to his room, packed out all his medicine and said ‘this type of life is not worth living’ and she thinks he was planning to commit suicide.
After talking to him Hester gave him the necessary tablets to calm him down and he fell asleep.
“Dawid is borderline bipolar, has a personality disorder, is suicidal and suffers from temporal lobe epilepsy, which is a form of focal epilepsy, a chronic neurological condition characterised by recurrent seizures,” says Hester.
Dawid visited the Sassa offices to apply for his new Sassa card recently and was told, due to his illnesses, he needs to have certain forms filled in by a specialist doctor who visits the clinic once a week.
According to Hermie Louw, Springs Sassa spokesman, if you apply for a disability grant a form is given to you by Sassa requesting the patient’s medical history.
This form can only be signed by a medical attendant or doctor at a clinic or where the history of the client is obtainable.
“The person needs to make an appointment with a doctor appointed by Sassa which will determine if the person is going to qualify for a disability grant or not,” says Louw.
He adds that when a person gets a temporary disability grand, the grant can only be renewed after the last payment of the previous assessment.
“Although Dawid’s grant only lapses at the end of July, the forms were already issued to the him to be renewed, but in normal circumstances the forms would only be issued after the grant has lapsed,” says Louw.
Last Thursday Hester phoned the clinic and asked to speak to the clinic manager and was told he was not there and the person on the other end of the phone insisted she tell them what the complaint was about.
“The next minute a man asked me what my problem is and after explaining the situation to him, he said ‘if the doctor is busy, the doctor is busy and that is how we work at this clinic’. Then he put the phone down on me,” says Hester, adding that it will take approximately three minutes for the doctor to fill in the form.
She adds she still does not have the clinic manager’s name and her son still has to wait until September 4 before he can see the doctor to complete the forms.
“That means he will be without any income until at least December. How is he going to survive?” she concludes.
“On behalf of the department, I would like to apologise to Dawid and his family. He does not deserve the kind of attitude that he allegedly received,” says Simon Zwane, Gauteng Department of Health spokesman.
He adds that it would have been much easier to follow up on this matter if he had the name of the staff member that allegedly shouted at Dawid.
“However, staff at the clinic will be spoken to in an effort to encourage a better attitude towards patients and service users,” he says.
Zwane concludes that for further assistance Dawid is encouraged to contact the district manager, Nongezo Mekgwe, on 071 402 9977.
