Joburg Mayor, Cllr Herman Mashaba has revealed that he had to dig deep and forfeit 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.
Nomphelo Maziko, mother to 15 year-old Sibongile who suffers from epilepsy, joined throngs of community members of Princess in Roodepoort yesterday to commemorate one year since Mayor Mashaba launched a program to extend service hours across City managed clinics.
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.
Speaking during the ceremony, Mashaba told residents of Princess that healthcare was a right for all regardless of their economic status. He said he had to honour the wishes of Nomphelo Maziko and her daughter by changing the healthcare operating hours of all the clinics under his administration.
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:
- Freedom Park Clinic;
- Hikensile Clinic;
- Randburg Clinic;
- Zandspruit Clinic; and
- 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 and a year after we adopted the pilot project, I am glad the program is proving to be a success,’’ said the Mayor adding that the service has since been rolled out to five more clinics across the city.
“Our people deserve better services and we will continue to seek solutions to respond to their needs.”
In line with the integrated extended services package at these clinics, a social worker is employed to focus on rendering social development services and ensure linkages with internal and external stakeholders for referral purposes.
The operating hours are from 11:00 to 19:00 to improve access for working customers. The focus is on community development and community mobilisation with emphasis on providing the following:
- Psycho-social support;
- Skills Development;
- Food Security;
- Substance abuse prevention.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development, Cllr Mpho Phalatse said the extension of service hours to some of the City run clinics was proving to be a success, with Princess Clinic and Freedom Park Clinic seeing over 30% more patients during the extended hours.
Phalatse said there has been a significant reduction in waiting times in most of the clinics, and overall improvements in patient satisfaction.
“We will continue to roll out extended hours of service throughout our local government clinics with the aim of covering all clinics by the end of this Mayoral term of office,” she said.
Phalatse said the overwhelming response from residents is a clear indication that the extension of service hours was a much needed service that residents have been deprived of for far too long.
“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,’’ said Phalatse.
In just 12 months since the Mayor launched extended hours, there has been an increase of those who access our health institutions after hours, especially working mothers.
The Mayor promised the residents of Princess that he will continue to serve them with dedication by improving service delivery across the city.