Frustrated residents of Phase 6 in Bloemfontein are calling on the Free State Department of Health to establish a permanent clinic in their area, citing repeated failures of the mobile health unit that currently serves them and alleging bureaucratic obstacles when seeking alternative care.
The community, which relies entirely on a bi-weekly mobile clinic for access to healthcare, reported that the service has been particularly unreliable in recent weeks. According to residents, the mobile clinic failed to arrive on specific days in December, January, and the first week of February.
Dawn saw a group of residents gathered at a makeshift structure on Tuesday, hoping to receive their monthly chronic medication—a service the Department is scheduled to provide every two weeks.
“We see that the mobile has not arrived. We don’t know why,” said one resident. The lack of service has left vulnerable members of the community in dire straits. “We have chronic people who get medication here. We have HIV people. We have small babies who get vaccination here. The situation is very tough because some people do not have transport money to go to the nearest clinics.”
Another community member highlighted the impact on the elderly. “We would like our government to assist our nurses to come each and every fortnight to assist us with medication because our grannies are suffering. If sometimes they don’t have that medication, they tell us to come after two weeks. That puts our grandmothers at risk because how can they survive without their medication?”
Compounding the issue, patients allege that when the mobile unit fails to show up and they attempt to visit permanent clinics in other areas, they are often turned away for not having a referral letter—a letter that would typically have to come from the very mobile clinic that was absent.
In response to the concerns, the Free State MEC for Health acknowledged the challenges within the department. “What I know is that we have challenges of shortage of staff across the province,” the MEC stated. “But I’m happy that we’ve started appointing professionals. Here in Mangaung, there are posts for professionals that are advertised, and they’re going to be filled. We are going to make sure that we close the gap so that the mobile clinics are able to attend to those places where they are supposed to.”
The MEC also addressed complaints regarding the attitude of some health workers, promising to reinforce the importance of empathy. The department, the MEC added, would encourage workers to be more considerate towards patients in line with the Batho Pele principles (“People First” principles). The MEC further committed to personally visiting the area to engage with the community.
Residents maintain that only a permanent brick-and-mortar clinic can provide the consistent and reliable healthcare access their community desperately needs.