KRIEL – The residents of Kriel in Mpumalanga have reached a boiling point in their demands for a 24-hour operational clinic in their community.
After a year of pleading for extended operating hours, the residents are now considering taking their fight to the streets. The situation escalated after the Thubelihle clinic, which was supposed to operate round the clock, faced staffing shortages that limited its services to only 12 hours a day.
In response to the outcry from the community, the Mpumalanga Department of Health has pledged to address the issue by committing to keeping the clinic open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and hiring additional Professional Nurses to meet the healthcare needs of the residents.
According to the residents, many patients have a duty to dig deep into their pockets and travel to Impunge, Bethal, and Witbank general hospitals for facility care, which is highly costly for them.
Speaking with the Highveld Chronicle, a resident from Kriel who wished to remain anonymous said, “ Nothing has changed in Thubelihhle Clinic, we still queue long hours waiting for medical attention. At time the nurse they will tell us that they are in a shortage of staff.”
“ I am a patient that takes chronicle medication, my condition doesn’t allow me to wait long in a queue. The nurses there they are always having long hours lunch or tea time.” she said.
Bonginkosi Lukhuleni said, “ The issue of the clinic in Thubelihle, when the clinic was built it was built so that so that it can operate for 24 hours. Now we found ourselves having a clinic that operates for 12 hours, from 7am -19:00pm. We found ourselves consulting at Impunge , Bethal and Witbank general hospital which is a crisis for us. The main reason for the Thubelihle clinic to operate for 24 hours it was because the three mentioned hospitals in areas they are too far.”
“ Pregnant women they suffer most because they always have emergency and you found that the clinic is closed due to the shortage of staff.” he added.
Mpumalanga Department of Health spokesperson Christopher Nobela confirmed that the facility was built to provide 24 hours of service; however, it is currently operating for 12 hours due to a shortage of staff.
“ The variation in terms operational hours for the facility from 24 hours to 12 hours was due to the fact that the current staff compliment is in adequate to enable us to provide 24 hours’ services.”
