Cllr Herman Mashaba Executive Mayor City of Joburg
Effective from 1 April 2017, the City is now rolling out extended operating hours at five more clinics across Joburg.
These clinics are:
- Freedom Park Clinic;
- Hikensile Clinic;
- Randburg Clinic;
- Zandspruit Clinic; and
- Albert Street clinic.
Today, we celebrate this important change for the community of Freedom Park and surrounding areas here at the Freedom Park Clinic.
It is a great honour and pleasure for me to launch the extended operating hours for the Freedom Park Clinic – an undertaking I believe is bound to make a significant improvement in the provision of quality health services for this community.
Currently, the operating hours for the Freedom Park Clinic are 07:30 to 16:00, Monday to Friday, but it will now be extended to 07:00 to 22:00 on weekdays and 07:30 to 13:30 on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays.
This administration is committed to bringing about the change our residents demanded when they elected us into government last year.
Healthy people are a prerequisite for the economic success of Johannesburg. Like I always say: A healthy city is a working city.
In light of this, one of our top ten priorities when entering government was to launch a pilot project for extended operating hours at one of our clinics to improve access to quality healthcare in our City.
We launched the Princess Clinic Extended Hours Pilot Project last October and I am delighted to say that the project has been a resounding success.
From November 2016 through to February 2017, a total of 10,791 patients visited the Princess Clinic. As a reflection on the need for the extended clinic operating hours, almost 3000 patients out of the total were seen during the extended hours.
One of the substantial advantages of this strategy is that everyone can get the care they need exactly when they need it. It is also a perfect solution for those who need a routine check-up or want assistance with managing chronic conditions without having to take a day off work or school.
This will go a long way in ensuring that our residents have access to quality healthcare without compromising their livelihoods.
We have experienced a few emergency cases since the extension of operating hours at Princess Clinic. Patients’ lives were saved in two specific cases. A three year old boy was rushed to the clinic due to shortness of breath, and diagnosed with pneumonia. Additionally, a pregnant woman in labour arrived at the clinic and received emergency care before being rushed to hospital.
I have stated on numerous occasions that we need to put healthcare back into the hands of professionals and out of the often harmful influence of politicians. One does not have to look further than the Esidemeni tragedy to see the importance of this.
I would like to thank the MMC for Health and Social Development, Cllr Mpho Phalatse, a qualified and experienced medical doctor, and her team for their tireless work and for making my vision of extended operating hours at Joburg clinics a reality.
In line with the proposed extended services at the clinic, a social worker fully dedicated to the area will also be available at Freedom Park Clinic. Their focus will be on community development and community mobilisation with an emphasis on providing psycho-social support, skills development, food security, early childhood development, youth development programmes and drug abuse prevention.
Our clinics must be transformed from being mere health care facilities to being multi-functional centres where events such as health workshops and local drug action community meetings can be hosted.
We are conscious that this can be achieved by, among other things, improving staff numbers and the remuneration of all health care workers, such as doctors, nurses, environmental practitioners, and health promoters.
Health care workers work under very difficult circumstances and this administration is committed to addressing these challenges as we cannot allow the services provided at our clinics to regress or collapse.
We are making deliberate efforts to improve the working conditions of our health care professionals, and also improving nursing retention rates to ensure that clinics never run short of medical personnel.
Nurses, and other health care workers, must be treated with the respect that their extraordinary work deserves. We must be a community that values those who give their lives to the service of others.
It brings me great joy to know that the dignity of our people is being restored here in Freedom Park.
No longer will anyone have to choose between their livelihood or education, and their health.
Our dream of a better democratic South Africa is being realised, and I am excited that those previously marginalised and forgotten will be able to feel a part of the change in our City.
We are well on our way to transforming health care in Freedom Park and across our City and this must be celebrated.
Healthy communities will contribute positively to the creation of a more happy, productive, strong and successful Joburg.