OFFICIAL OPENING OF HEALTH CENTER
Community alerts/Francina Nkosi/Lephalale, Steenbokpan/10/07/2019, 5:31 AM
The Marapong Community Centre building previously housed Medi Clinic was officially opened by MEC Dr. Phophi Ramathuba ,which means by opening it no one can close it without her permission .
Warm messages of support and encouragement to the community , was to take care of their health facility and were shared by different speakers, emphasising that under no circumstance will damaging of the facility .
24 hours will assist the community very much especially pregnant women those who can’t afford hired cars or those who don’t have cars to take them to the hospital at night when they are in pains to give birth. It will also minimize the work of the hospital. Ramathuba said i cote
“We are committed to serving our communities consistently and I say without mincing my words that clinics that want to operate 24 hours must have more staff and those that do not want to operate for 24 hours should have a reduction of staff to assist the committed ones.
It also has to be noted that we continuously engage Treasury to help with more money in the health sector and the reality is that the department sometimes lacks proper leadership mainly in Operational Managers across clinics.”
Ramathuba used the term ‘warm bodies’ to refer to the kind of leaders her statement spoke of, whom she says come to work as early as possible, do as little as possible and leave as early as possible.She says health sector does not need to hire such managers, who spend time in their offices and only give instructions without doing any work.
Ramathuba further mentioned that the population growth in Lephalale means there has to be enough healthcare services in the area and in her view there is no need to build another hospital but to grow the centre bigger and better, while ensuring Ellisras Hospital grows to the level of Regional hospital.
The Marapong Healthcare Community centre now operates with 23 staff that includes Operational Manager, 12 Registered Nurses, 6 Staff Nurses and a Data Capture.
Ramathuba also pleaded with the community to protect healthcare providers as recentely most nurses do not enjoy working night shifts due to incidents of violence against them.
She also promised to have the facility turned into district level in the coming years.
By Francina Nkosi
