Shortage of clinics in Ikemeleng By Tsholo Kokwe

 

Shortage of clinic puts our community lives in to danger.

Ikemeleng is a informal settlement, where mine workers and casual worekrs live . it’s a big place where over 5000 people live. Around us a many platinum mines. Its is divided in to three sections Dindela, Riverside and Ikemeleng centre. But we don’t have a clinic even a health centre.

We only attend clinic when a mobile clinic visits us in our community but it help some of people but not all of them. It only helps babies and people with high blood, flu, and headache and women prevention. It came only once a month around 7 to 10.Pregnant women, people getting treatment for HIV and AIDS, T.B, injuries, diabetics and stroke are not getting help from this mobile clinic. They supposed to go to the gateway clinic or classic clinic next to game at Rustenburg town.

When a woman gets delivery pains she is supposed to call ambulance, sometimes it delays to collect a patient and sometimes at night patient must go to Tlhabane clinic before and clinic transfer the patient to the hospitals especially Rustenburg town and they said they only help patients who came with an ambulance and those who are not brought by an ambulance or transferred by the clinic cannot be helped

I conducted interviews with two women from my community

Interview 1

I firstly interviewed a 28years old woman who delivered her child home. It was on the 20^th February 2012 at around 11:30 pm; she had labour pains and of her neighbours called the ambulance to take her to the hospital, but the neighbour ended up delivering the baby the ambulance only came in the morning and collected the mother and baby.

 Interview 2

One of the women who is 29years was lost her baby because of she delivered her baby at home because the ambulance delayed to arrive.

As the community, our lives are in danger because of the shortage of clinics.