Johannesburg - Johannesburg’s new MMC for Health and Social Development, Ennie Makhafola, plans to ensure that the city’s clinics offer the best service in the country.
Makhafola, who is an EFF caucus member, is a professional nurse. She said one of her priorities was increasing the operating hours of clinics around the city.
In most townships around the city, residents would have to wake up in the early hours of the morning in order to get service at the clinic.
Makhafola said there had been strides already to increase the operating hours of clinics, but she said her term in office would see more innovations.
“Our clinics are already operating from 7.30am till 4pm and from 6am to 6pm for those covering extended hours. To further increase access to healthcare, I am looking into having all our clinics work extended hours, covering weekends and public holidays.
“I am also accessing clinics that have the potential to be converted to CHCs (community health centres), which will operate 24 hours a day; this is aimed at reducing the pressure on our hospitals,” Makhafola said.
Today (Friday), Makhafola will be launching a cleanliness project that is meant to inspire communities to live in clean areas. The campaign is also meant to ensure that primary health care centres, such as clinics, offer efficient and excellent service.
“Cleanliness is next to godliness; we are looking at providing care to our people holistically, which means they must receive services in a clean environment, and environmental health is one of our aspects in the department.
“We aim to raise awareness among our citizens on the importance of a healthy environment, so to eliminate or minimise this problem of littering, a campaign must be effectively planned and executed,” she said.
Makhafola said waste dumps were prime breeding sites for communicable disease vectors such as rodents, mosquitoes, and household flies, which could exacerbate the prevalence of water, food, and water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
“Besides clearing illegal dumping sites, the campaign is also aimed at raising awareness of the consequences of waste dumping and to sensitise community members on the need for them to be good stewards of their environment and also sensitise them to take collective responsibility for their environment.
“I also hope to instil a culture of upkeep of our environment and cleanliness in our city and all that surrounds it,” Makhafola said.
Makhafola said she had a plan to decongest the municipality’s clinics; part of her plan is to create a medicine pick-up system for patients who simply want to fetch their medicine and leave the clinic.
There were also plans to look at alcoholism in the city and create more rehab centres to treat alcoholics and drug abusers.
“The influx of patients has overwhelmed clinics. I will achieve this by decongesting the clinics through the decanting of stable chronic patients (HIV, diabetes, hypertension, etc) to external pick-up points for their medication. On Issues of alcohol and drug abuse, I am looking forward to the city adding more rehabilitation centres. Issue of poor accessibility to social services,” she said.
The MMC added that Johannesburg’s clinics should also become centres for social and mental well-being. She said there needed to be more social workers available at the clinics, including counsellors and psychologists, to deal with various issues, including gender-based violence (GBV).
“I will ensure that social services are available and spread across all our clients and townships, and each ward in the city receives a social worker with whom they will be working with.
“On the issue of GBV, we are looking at offering intensive psychosocial support and legal assistance through our social development and our partnership with lawyers, and we will refer to shelters those who need to be accommodated,” she said.
The Star