Cape Town - Patients at some public clinics and day hospitals in the townships have complained about waiting in long queues, sometimes in cold and wet conditions.
The Cape Argus visited Mitchells Plain Community Health Centre (CHC), Delft Day Hospital and Langa clinic on Thursday, where patients were waiting outside for long periods, with officials telling them they were doing their best to manage the situation with limited resources.
Zoliswa Dlongwana, 51, from Delft who went to the hospital for her treatment said she has been standing on the queues for more than two hours, since 6am.
Dlongwana said standing outside is not a good experience. She said it’s even worse now because of Covid-19, which prompted officials not to allow many people inside.
A 70-year-old wheelchair-bound patient in Mitchells Plain said: “It is not nice to be outside the clinic in this rainy weather. Some of us might not even get assistance.”
SA National Civic Organisation provincial chairperson Bongikhaya Qhama said: “This has been happening for a very long time in the public hospitals without any form of improvement from the Provincial and City department of health.”
Qhama said in their intervention seeking alternative means to better the situation, many promises were made but resort to lip service, particularly from the Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo.
“There are living examples on the model, like those applied by the private banks. People should be viewed as clients coming for service rather than to be perceived as a burden,” he said.
“Our people are subjected to extreme weather conditions that put their lives at risk. We view this as negligence and ignorance by the Provincial Department of Health.”
ANC provincial health spokesperson, Rachel Windvogel, said the issue of waiting periods in the day hospitals and clinics was something they have raised sharply in the legislature since 2019.
“It is sad that the MEC and the department refuse to take ownership and lead from the front in addressing this challenge. Instead they shift goal posts and hide behind the fact that a number of clinics belong to the City,” Windvogel said.
She said it was for that reason that they have been calling for the integration of those clinics between the City and Province.
“Our people leave their homes in the early hours of the morning so they can be in front. They spend over five hours waiting for clinics to open,” Windvogel said.
She called for every clinic to have a waiting area outside where the people can wait instead of queueing which makes them sitting ducks for criminals.
Community Services and Health mayco member, Patricia van der Ross, said the City’s Health Department makes use of an appointment system which improves accessibility to primary healthcare and reduces waiting times, aimed at strengthening health services and improving healthcare.
Mbombo said there were 266 primary health care (PHC) facilities, 192 fixed clinics, 63 Community Day Centres (CDCs) and 11 Community Health Centres (CHCs). Of those facilities, 69 clinics and 14 CDCs were under the authority of the City.
She said the department has, over the years, consistently worked on addressing those issues as part of an extended whole‑of-society response to the underlying upstream health determinants causing the queuing.
“Currently, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, only a limited number of patients are allowed inside the facility to ensure safety precautions and physical distancing guidelines,” Mbombo said.
She said as a result, patients sometimes have to wait outside for appointments instead of inside the facility, creating the perception of long queues at facilities. However, that was being addressed through approaches such as staggered appointment times.
She said some improvements were made, including the appointment systems which have been implemented at most PHC clinics, electronic appointments and WhatsApp appointment lines for clients to make appointments and access services.
Mbombo said some included delivery and off-site collection of chronic medications to combat long queues.