AT 6AM on an uncharacteristically chilly summer Tuesday morning, patients at Meadowlands Clinic in Soweto have been waiting a long time for the clinic's gates to open.
They wake up early so they can be among the first to get into the clinic as soon as it opens.
"When we line up here so early, they tell us that nobody told us to be here so early. But when we get here at 9 or 10 [am] then they tell us to go back home because we are late," said one of the disgruntled women standing in the queue.
People, some as old as 78, line up in the early hours of the morning to get treatment and medication at the clinic.
Security guards were inside the premises and did not open the gates until 7am.
Inside the clinic there are numerous notices stating that there is a waiting period of two hours for consultation.
Other than the lengthy waiting periods, patients complained about the new filing system.
With the previous system, patients would go home with their files and bring them back with them when they went to the clinic.
Patients complained that the new system had led to complications that include prescribing the wrong dosages and dispensing incorrect medication by nurses.
"Now they have given us this white card [appointment card] and then when they need to bring our files they tell us they are misplaced," said Agnes Motaung.
The 78-year-old pensioner said when she went to the clinic to get her diabetes and high blood pressure medication, she was told her file had been misplaced.
"All my medical history was there and which treatment to take. They gave me a blank piece of paper to take with me to get my treatment. When I got there [the dispensary] they did not know which medication to give me. They asked me to look on the shelves if I could see the medication I usually take," she said.
Motaung said she was never told which medication was for which illness she had.
Added to that, she was given the wrong dosage and ended up with severe diarrhoea.
"They told me to take two pills a day and it made me very sick. When I went back to them they changed it to only one a day."
The filing system was one of the main complaints that patients had.
Despite their dissatisfaction with the clinic services, they felt they could not complain because of fear of victimisation and not having other options.
"When we go to other clinics they tell us to go back to this clinic because we live in Meadowlands."
Another pensioner, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she was asthmatic and was told to get a TB test done.
"When I went back to get my results they told me they aren't ready. I went back three more times and they still were not ready. Then they said the people who do the tests were on strike. It's been three months and I have not received my TB results."
Patrick Mohlopegi, secretary of the Meadowlands Concerned Residents, said the service at the clinic had deteriorated.
"Every time we complain, they work for two weeks, then after that things go back to the same thing."
The Gauteng health department acknowledged the problem.
"The department will meet with the facility management to come up with ways to manage queues in our clinics," said spokesman Prince Hamnca.
nkosin@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Patients' anguish at Soweto clinic - many queue for long hours for poor healthcare services
AT 6AM on an uncharacteristically chilly summer Tuesday morning, patients at Meadowlands Clinic in Soweto have been waiting a long time for the clinic's gates to open.
They wake up early so they can be among the first to get into the clinic as soon as it opens.
"When we line up here so early, they tell us that nobody told us to be here so early. But when we get here at 9 or 10 [am] then they tell us to go back home because we are late," said one of the disgruntled women standing in the queue.
People, some as old as 78, line up in the early hours of the morning to get treatment and medication at the clinic.
Security guards were inside the premises and did not open the gates until 7am.
Inside the clinic there are numerous notices stating that there is a waiting period of two hours for consultation.
Other than the lengthy waiting periods, patients complained about the new filing system.
With the previous system, patients would go home with their files and bring them back with them when they went to the clinic.
Patients complained that the new system had led to complications that include prescribing the wrong dosages and dispensing incorrect medication by nurses.
"Now they have given us this white card [appointment card] and then when they need to bring our files they tell us they are misplaced," said Agnes Motaung.
The 78-year-old pensioner said when she went to the clinic to get her diabetes and high blood pressure medication, she was told her file had been misplaced.
"All my medical history was there and which treatment to take. They gave me a blank piece of paper to take with me to get my treatment. When I got there [the dispensary] they did not know which medication to give me. They asked me to look on the shelves if I could see the medication I usually take," she said.
Motaung said she was never told which medication was for which illness she had.
Added to that, she was given the wrong dosage and ended up with severe diarrhoea.
"They told me to take two pills a day and it made me very sick. When I went back to them they changed it to only one a day."
The filing system was one of the main complaints that patients had.
Despite their dissatisfaction with the clinic services, they felt they could not complain because of fear of victimisation and not having other options.
"When we go to other clinics they tell us to go back to this clinic because we live in Meadowlands."
Another pensioner, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she was asthmatic and was told to get a TB test done.
"When I went back to get my results they told me they aren't ready. I went back three more times and they still were not ready. Then they said the people who do the tests were on strike. It's been three months and I have not received my TB results."
Patrick Mohlopegi, secretary of the Meadowlands Concerned Residents, said the service at the clinic had deteriorated.
"Every time we complain, they work for two weeks, then after that things go back to the same thing."
The Gauteng health department acknowledged the problem.
"The department will meet with the facility management to come up with ways to manage queues in our clinics," said spokesman Prince Hamnca.
nkosin@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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