An estimated 3 500 patients who visit Phuthanang Clinic in Tsakane each month are forced to seek medical care at other clinics. This comes after the City of Ekurhuleni temporarily reassigned health workers from Phuthanang to nearby facilities following a go-slow this week.
Workers downed tools, protesting the continuous dysfunction of the toilets at the facility.
The female toilets have been cordoned off, preventing them from being used.
One patient tells Health-e News that the toilet issue has been persisting for “more than three years”.
To relieve themselves, patients use the toilets at a nearby mechanic workshop or the Tsakane Business Park facility.
Zanele Khanyile, a Tsakane Business Park board member, says that nurses from Phuthanang Clinic requested permission to use their toilets. The business park is a government facility that shares premises with the clinic.
“I gave them the spare key I had because the nurses at Puthanang were directing patients to the Tsakane main clinic because of the dysfunctional toilets,” she explains.
According to Google Maps the distance from Phuthanang Clinic to Tsakane Main Clinic is 1.6 km, approximately a 22 minute walk.
Khanyile says her decision to give the clinic staff a spare key wasn’t welcomed by some tenants. She says the business park also has a number of toilets that are out of service, and are waiting for the municipality to repair them.
“They were fighting because we also have to fix our own toilets.”
City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini says the city was aware that some toilets were non-functional but this was the first time that all toilets were out of service.
“We’ve actually asked them to go and assist in other nearby health facilities. And members of the public as well who need clinic services are actually being redirected to nearby clinics in the area,” Dlamini says, claiming the city wouldn’t expose their workers and the public to a facility without proper sanitation due to health risks.
It remains unclear how long it will take the municipality to repair the restrooms. – Health-e News
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