Five more Jozi clinics ready to extend operating hours

24 March 2017

 

Five more City of Johannesburg primary healthcare facilities are ready to implement extended operating hours from Saturday April 1.

 

The move was made after Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development Cllr Mpho Phalatse visited the five identified clinics on Thursday March 23 to meet their respective staff and discuss their state of readiness.

The five clinics are Freedom Park in Region A, Hikhensile (also in Region A), Randburg (Region B), Zandspruit (Region C) and Albert Street (Region F).

MMC Phalatse was accompanied on the day-long tour by top officials from her department, among them Executive Director Dr Refik Bismillah and Director of District Health Systems Development Jabu Rakosa.

Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba announced plans to extend clinics’ operating hours shortly after taking office following the 3 August 2016 local government elections.

The plan was piloted at the Princess Crossing Clinic in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, in October 2016. At each of the clinics Cllr Phalatse was taken on tour by operations managers.

Sister Lindiwe Jokozela, who heads the Freedom Park Clinic, said the facility received up to 300 patients a day. She expressed the hope that the longer hours would alleviate congestion.

Dorah Bokaba, Operations Manager at Hikhensile Clinic, also said she hoped the extended operating hours would cut down on patient waiting times.

The MMC said this integrated and holistic approach was the blueprint for the whole city, which embraced community input and participation.

There are 82 primary healthcare facilities in Johannesburg. While staff and patients have welcomed the extension of operating, many have identified the lack of security and staff shortages as their main concerns.

Dr Phalatse, however, assured all the stakeholders that all the challenges would be attended to on an ongoing basis.
“We’re ready for the rollout,” she said in an interview after the tour.

“We’re attending to specific challenges at each clinic by speaking to relevant people. Change is never easy but change management will help us achieve our goals. Freedom Park, Hikhensile, Randburg and Albert Street are ready.

“Zandspruit has more challenges but we’re already working on tackling those. We’re engaging with Eskom and attending to specific issues at each clinic. We’re looking at beefing up security and bringing in additional staff at all clinics.”

Cllr Phalatse announced that Freedom Park Clinic – which currently operates from 7.30am to 4pm – would from April open until 10pm weekdays and up to 1.30pm on weekends and public holidays.

Albert Street Clinic in the inner city as well as Randburg and Zandspruit clinics would extend their hours until 7pm on weekdays and up to 1.30pm on weekends and public holidays.

She said the Johannesburg Metro Police Department would be roped in to beef up security. She said Public Safety MMC Cllr Michael Sun was already working with her department in this regard.

“The mayor is very excited about this rollout. We’ve a very strong leadership in the department, so I am not worried at all,” she said.