MEC visits troubled clinic in Ocean View
Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo conducted an oversight visit at the clinic on Tuesday to find ways to improve health care there. She was accompanied by the member of the mayoral committee for safety and security, JP Smith. Picture: Tracey Adams/African News Agency Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo conducted an oversight visit at the clinic on Tuesday to find ways to improve health care there. She was accompanied by the member of the mayoral committee for safety and security, JP Smith. Picture: Tracey Adams/African News Agency
Cape Town - Service at the only clinic in Ocean View, which serves about 17000 people from the suburb and surrounding communities, are under severe strain, with patients sometimes waiting for more than two hours for treatment.
After a number of complaints were laid with the provincial department of health, Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo conducted an oversight visit at the clinic on Tuesday to find ways to improve health care there. She was accompanied by the member of the mayoral committee for safety and security, JP Smith.
“This health oversight visit to Ocean View forms part of the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town’s goal to achieve ‘ideal clinic status’ for all primary health care facilities,” Mbombo said.
“Primary health care forms the basis (of health care provision) and must be strengthened. We aim to provide comprehensive, quality care to all residents within the metropole.”
Mbombo and Smith spoke to residents and staff at the clinic, and discussed safety at the clinic, waiting times, the clinic appointment system, the expansion of its programme for diabetics, and the formation of a body, the Ocean View Health Committee, to oversee health services.
Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo conducted an oversight visit at the clinic on Tuesday to find ways to improve health care there. She was accompanied by the member of the mayoral committee for safety and security, JP Smith. Picture: Tracey Adams/African News Agency
Smith said a modernised system would be introduced, which would hopefully reduce waiting times, and improve patients’ overall experience there. He said the city’s “ideal clinic status” drive focused on the enhancement of pharmacies and the possibility of including pharmacy learnerships at clinics. Difficulty had been experienced in recruiting qualified staff from specific areas.
Mbombo said health clinics also benefited communities economically through providing treatment that enabled patients to return to work.
“We are very proud of the advances made... in the last decade; not only have there been notable achievements in the provision of basic services, but there have also been a number of additional offerings tailored to meet the needs of different groups.”
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