Programme director
Inkosi BP Biyela - Ndabezitha
Izinduna kanye neSigungu
Colleague MEC for Sports and Recreation – Hon Weziwe Thusi
Chairperson of Inkandla Hospital Board and His Worship the Mayor
Inkandla Local Municipality – Cllr ZO Zulu
Our District Manager in uThungulu - Mr Mfowethu Zungu
Inkandla Hospital CEO – Mr Mbuso Mntambo
Mpandleni Clinic Committee – Mr BT Dunge
Mpandleni Clinic Manager – Mrs VO Mpungose
Abasebenzi boMnyango in all categories
Malunga omphakathi ahloniphekile
Ladies and gentlemen I am very elated that you chose to officially open this Gateway Clinic on 11 February, a day that falls within the ambit of the STI and Condom Week. The services that are offered here even though they are for all age groups, the emphasis of those services is on our youth.
You will know that adolescents make up a significant proportion of our population and that adolescence is a period that is generally associated with the time of exploration, opportunity and risk. The consequences of risky behaviour in most cases are serious and often fatal. Let us take into consideration what the Medical Research Council: Youth Risk Behaviour Study of 2008 reveals:
- 38% of teenagers (nationally) are reported to have started having sex with 13% of them reporting their age of initiation as being under 14 years old
- Among the teenagers concerned here, 41% had more than one sexual partner
- 16% had sex after consuming alcohol
- 14% had sex after taking drugs
- 19% had been pregnant or made someone pregnant
Today I am glad that the District Manager; the Hospital and Clinic Management and members of the Clinic Committee are all here because I would like to emphasise the issue of making all our health care institutions to be youth-friendly facilities. We do not like the situation whereby our young people are afraid of seeking medical help and guidance because they fear ridicule and reprisal from our health care givers. As professionals we need to be open to talk to them about STI’s; HIV and AIDS; contraceptives and all other conditions that afflict them and are inherent to their age as youth.
Today as we officially open this facility valued at R8 555 432. 22 the members of the community and the leadership in general, need to be aware that our serious concern is on the issue of maternal and child deaths. This is very relevant here as the gender numbers indicate that 57% of the population is females. The government has played its part of providing a clinic where both the expectant mothers and their new-born babies can be served. As members of the community we now need to ensure that there is no mother or new-born that dies as a result of avoidable factors such as:
- Expectant mothers never initiating antenatal care
- Infrequent visits to antenatal clinic
- Failing to return on prescribed date
- Delay in seeking medical attention during labour
- Lack of transport - home to institution
- Attempted termination of pregnancy
- Delay in seeking help when baby is ill
- Partner/Family declining admission/treatment
- Abandoned babies
Without doubt, the tackling of the above is a societal issue in which all of us can play a role. Let us all work together to attain what our country is set for in as far as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are concerned, particularly on all health related goals that entail:
- Reducing child mortality
- Improving maternal health, and
- Combating HIV and AIDS, Malaria and other disease
The clinic is now ready to provide care in pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum periods for mothers and newborn infants. Our health care professionals are experts in the preventing HIV infections among women of childbearing age; preventing transmission of HIV from mother to child; improving maternal health related to HIV and AIDS; and improving child health related to HIV and AIDS. We therefore appeal to members of the community to make use of this clinic especially on deliveries and refrain from rushing to the hospital for the service that is catered for here.
The Clinic has a full package of Primary Health Care services with:
- 5 Professional Nurses
- 7 Enrolled Nurses
- I Support Officer
- 1 Lay Counsellor
- It opens 5 days a week
- Has 6 Consulting rooms
- Has staff accommodation and
- Has a budget of R3 234 000 million for your needs
We also have plans of extending working hours to 7 days a week with our personnel available on the on-call system as well. Another milestone that we would like to report on to Inkosi Biyela and all his people is the Nkandla Hospital New Staff Residences that we are officially opening today as well. UNdabezitha will understand that the inadequate staff accommodation at rural areas is often cited as the reason for hospitals not being able to retain the scarce skills. As the KwaZulu Natal Department of Health, caring for people wherever they are, we have invested more than R14 million in the construction of the Residences that has a total of 39 rooms consisting of:
- 2 Blocks [A and B]
- Block A with 24 rooms
- Block B with 15 rooms, including 1 for paraplegic personnel, and
- A New Hall that can accommodate 400 people
Today we are proud to report that no qualifying employee is without accommodation in this hospital as 36 rooms have been allocated as per the department’s housing policy. We are also relieved that we are not going to loose any much needed clinician as there are 3 more rooms reserved to accommodate those we are going to employ. Indeed a better life for all the people in all corners of our country.
I thank you.
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Health
