Conditions at Rossenekal Clinic call for intervention
ROSSENEKAL – Revelations of an oversight visit conducted by the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo at the Rossenekal Clinic outside Groblersdal painted an awful picture of the health facility within Elias Motsoaledi Municipality.
The DA said its first unpleasant encounter at the clinic was with the nurse in charge who told them that she would not allow them to carry out the oversight and went further to tell the security not to allow them to proceed.
The party said although the nurse’s attempt at blocking the oversight was not successful, they believed that those unacceptable remarks were to cover up the many serious shortcomings they found at the clinic.
According to the DA there was as serious shortage of staff at the clinic and there was only one nurse on duty despite the large number of patients that depended on the facility.
Risham Maharaj, DA Limpopo Spokesperson on Health, who was together with Lindy Wilson, DA Shadow Minister of Health during the oversight visit, said for over a month, there hasn’t been any prescription medication, and that was negatively impacting the healthcare services residents received.
Maharaj further said that there was no oxygen available at the clinic and the facility was generally in a filthy and unsanitary state.
“People at Rossenekal Clinic complained about queuing for hours, only to be turned back and told to return another day with no consideration for the cost implication or the impact on their health. The lack of care and compassion displayed at this clinic is truly concerning.
It is clear that this is not a clinic run by a caring government and Rossenekal Clinic is rather plagued by neglect and mismanagement,” added Maharaj.
He said taking into account the nurse’s attitude towards them during the visit, it was not hard to imagine the kind of treatment that members of the public received at the clinic on a daily basis.
The DA committed that it would report the shocking state of neglect and poor conditions at the clinic to the office of Health Ombudsman.
Attempts to get the reaction of the Limpopo Department of Health were not successful at the time of going to press. The paper sent a communication to the department on Wednesday, 6 April but it was still not responded to on Friday evening.
