DA-led Johannesburg Mayor, Cllr Herman Mashaba forfeited his international travel budget in order to fund the extension of service hours at Princess Clinic in Roodeport, following a cry for help from a mother of a sick daughter who resides in Princess Park Informal Settlement.
The Princess Clinic project, which was adopted on the 1st of November last year entailed extending service hours from the normal eight hours to 15 hours, Monday to Friday and from 07:00 to 13:00 on Saturdays, which added a further six hours. Since the beginning of the extended hours at the clinic, 7000 patients have been helped.
Due to the success of the pilot project at Princess Clinic, the extended hours were rolled out to five other clinics in the City, namely:
o Freedom Park Clinic;
o Hikensile Clinic;
o Randburg Clinic;
o Zandspruit Clinic; and
o Albert Street Clinic.
I could not sit back and not act after Miss Maziko and her child touched my heart. I pleaded with Council soon after we were elected to find funds to enable us to at least extend service hours at this clinic (Princess). Luckily there was huge budget available for the previous Mayor to travel abroad. As I had no intention to travel abroad, we used that budget to fund the extension of service hours at Princess Clinic.
– Johannesburg Mayor, Cllr Herman Mashaba
In just 12 months since the Mayor launched extended hours, there has been an increase of those who access the City’s health institutions after hours, especially working mothers.
The DA-led coalition government in the City of Johannesburg values the lives of residents, and will continue to invest heavily in their health and wellbeing. After all – a healthy city is a working city.
– MC for Health and Social Development, Cllr Mpho Phalatse
The Mayor promised the residents of Princess Park Informal Settlement that he will continue to serve them with dedication by improving service delivery across the city.
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