The following speech was delivered by Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba during the commemoration the one year anniversary of the launch of the extended hours at Princess Clinic.
When I first visited Princess in July 2016, I knew that I had come to a community that was off the radar as far as the ANC was concerned.
Nobody cared about this community in need.
However, I knew that if the DA led the City of Johannesburg, the people of Princess would finally receive much needed assistance.
Following the elections of 3 August 2016, this administration promised to finally bring change and hope to our poorest communities.
The DA-led administration in Johannesburg has carved out a strategy that no longer places our poor and vulnerable on the fringes of society.
We have placed communities like Princess at the centre of our agenda.
One year ago, the Department of Health and Social Development implemented extended operating hours at the Princess Clinic after I witnessed how the people of this community struggled to gain access to healthcare.
Today, I am here to celebrate the work which has been done at this facility so far.
The Princess Clinic pilot project entailed extending service hours from the normal eight hours to 15 hours per day – Monday to Friday, and Saturday’s service hours from 07h00 to 13h00, which added a further 5.5 hours.
Since beginning extended hours at the clinic, we have been able to provide healthcare to over 7000 more people at the clinic.
All in all, Princess Clinic has been able to provide healthcare to close to 24 000 residents in the area.
These are people who would have been forced between choosing to give up work and their health;
Choose between finding a job and getting access to healthcare; Taking time off studies and accessing healthcare.
By having this clinic operate for extended hours, I hope we have made a real difference in people’s lives.
Ladies and gentlemen, addressing healthcare challenges, particularly for poor communities’ requires multiple strategies.
We also have to attend to a community’s environmental health to ensure our residents’ continued wellbeing.
Our Environmental Health Services is at the forefront of protecting the City’s environment and safeguarding the public from contracting communicable diseases from food, water, and other environmental factors.
In this respect, we have initiated a number of programmes to ensure that we improve the lives of residents, by:
• ensuring all formal and informal food premises within the ward are inspected; compliance with environmental health legislation in area is currently in the region of 86%.
• All Early Childhood Development facilities within the area have also been inspected for environmental health concerns.
• Our pest control services conducted 2827 house to house surveys to determine the area’s exposure to the infestation of rodents and other pests.
Rodent cages were placed at strategic places to catch and eliminate these pests.
976 rodent burrows were also destroyed in the process.
• Pikitup is also assisting by cleaning the community and disposing of refuse within the areas. This is in line with our community responsibility to provide more cleaning services, particularly in informal communities.
We have also commenced an education drive to teach residents about the dangers of illegal dumping and the importance of rodent control.
The City’s Department of Social Development has also been identified as another strategic stakeholder in the approach to providing integrated healthcare to this community.
As part of our approach, a social worker was employed to render social development services and to ensure linkages with internal and external stakeholders for referral purposes.
The social worker’s operational hours have been set from 11h00 to 19h00, to improve access for the working customers.
Soon after the introduction of a social worker, it was quickly established that SASSA services are the main services sought after by the Princess community, mainly the form of Child Social Grant, the Disability Grant, and the Old Age Pension.
Additionally, there were quite a few families who required assistance in the form of food parcels or food vouchers. These have been provided.
Ladies and gentlemen, many of our communities are feeling the pain caused by substance abuse. It is a social problem affecting both rich and poor across the city.
Sadly, our children are the greatest victims falling into the hands of unscrupulous drug dealers who peddle misery and addiction.
It is my pleasure to announce that the City’s Health Department is rolling out its free Local Drug Action Committee programmes and at clinics across Joburg.
We intend to ensure that in those communities where substance abuse is rife, especially in poor communities, rehabilitation is accessible at no cost.
The first such clinic opened its doors last month, and we are determined to ensure that our vulnerable people are able to access these clinics and programmes.
The Princess Clinic Pilot project has helped the City of Johannesburg to be a responsive government, and we realise that in addition to health needs, our communities still have other pressing needs.
Ladies and gentlemen, the DA-led City of Johannesburg are intent on providing housing and infrastructure to communities that have been ignored by the ANC.
The City is in consultation with private investors and businessmen in our bid to turn Johannesburg into a building site, so that our residents get jobs and that they can live in housing that the City is going to provide in public private partnerships.
The illegal occupation of Council-owned land adds a burden to the environment since the illegal properties are not serviced and as such they add to the pollution and degradation of the environment.
We are looking at ways of providing innovative solutions to dealing with this.
We want Princess residents to rest assured that the DA-led City of Johannesburg will continue to provide good quality health care, which is their basic right of all residents.
I thank you.