On Tuesday 23 June 2015, the North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committees started with the first leg of the O re bone, re go bone – Taking Parliament to the People campaign which is held at all municipalities under the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District.
The campaign held under the theme: “The people shall govern through strengthening public participation, promoting accountability and transparency in government” is aimed at taking legislature to the people to strengthen oversight and public participation and to promote accountability and transparency in government.
The Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development visited Ganyesa Community Health Centre as part of O re bone, re go bone.
Health care is one of the key government priorities as well as an essential service which should be accessible to all citizens of the country and therefore the Portfolio Committee visited the clinic to determine the functionality of this Community Health Centre; to check the availability of medicines and medical equipment; and also to assess compliance with the core standards.
The Committee found serious challenges at the Ganyesa Community Health Centre, ranging from the facility not having a back-up generator to cater for load shedding; the baby clinic has space shortage therefore it is not conducive for infection control; there is shortage of transport with only two ambulances catering for the five sub districts clinics; the pharmacy room is congested with medications, others on the floor which prevents proper circulation of air and correct room temperature for treatment; the clinic’s pharmacy licence certificate has expired on the 31 December 2013; and the clinic is using manual filing system, coding patient files with three different colours which proved to be prejudicial to patients as everyone will know what kind of illness you suffer from resulting to patients defaulting on treatment.
The Acting Chairperson of the Committee, Hon. Jeannette Dibetso – Nyathi, said the Committee will have to engage the department on all the challenges found at the Community Health Centre. “We view these challenges in a very serious light; it is with serious concern that our health workers and communities are faced with such serious health environment, which does not take into consideration their privacy, security and prevent them from being affected by other communicable diseases.
The committee will therefore engage the MEC for Health, Dr Magome Masike and seek intervention on this issues,” said Hon. Dibetso – Nyathi.
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