Clinic closes due to COVID-19,

Image via Adobe Stock

Clinic closes due to COVID-19, rural community left without a health facility

KZN rural community pleads with government to reopen a clinic that was closed due to a COVID-19 case

Clinic closes due to COVID-19,

Image via Adobe Stock

For two weeks, the rural community of Mpendle near Pietermaritzburg has been without a healthcare facility as nurses at the Gomane government clinic downed tools after one staffer tested positive for COVID-19.

Now the residents trekked long kilometres on foot, in search of the next healthcare facility.                                                      

RESIDENTS CALL FOR THE REOPENING OF THE CLINIC

A distraught resident, Sipho Mkhize, said he was worried because many people are falling ill and there was no healthcare facility in the area.

“We can’t blame the nurses because they’re also protecting themselves from COVID-19. But there must be a solution in place because we walk long distance to the next clinic. I’m worried,” said Mkhize.

Another resident, who also serves as ward councillor, Duna Dlamini said the clinic must be opened immediately.

“This is totally unacceptable. We have old people who are unable to walk long distances. We plead with those in charge of the clinic to rethink their decision of downing tools,”

said Dlamini.

LOCAL COUNCILLOR WORRIED ABOUT THE SPIKE OF COVID-19

Dlamini said he would write to the national department of health, asking them to intervene.    

“We can’t allow the situation to go unchallenged. As we speak the COVID-19 infections are increasing, so it doesn’t make sense that a health facility is closed. There must be some kind of a solution to this problem,”  

said Dlamini.

MAN DIES AS NURSES STRIKE AFTER A COVID-19 CASE

This is the same clinic where a sick man Bongani Zuma, 28, died in two weeks ago when he arrived at the facility while nurses were on strike.

Zuma’s father, Mthi, pleaded with the health workers to return to work.

“I have already lost a son because of the striking nurses. I don’t want other people to experience what I went through losing a child at a place where I thought he was going to be saved at,”

said Mthi.

Inkosi Simphiwe Zuma, who oversees the rural village where the clinic is located, said:

“This is very disturbing. We plead with the government to intervene and find permanent solutions. Already one clinic is not enough to service such a big community like ours. Now if there’s no clinic at all, it’s a huge disaster.”   

The department of health in KwaZulu-Natal said it would intervene, and prioritise the lives of the health staff and community.