The Provincial Health spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, replied in a written answer to questions from OFM News that the clinic was closed for renovations and that there was never an intervention by the Labour Department. The said department, however, indicated that its inspectors visited the clinic  to conduct an inspection on 4 April. The clinic was found not compliant and a prohibition notice was issued.

In accordance with this notice, the doors to the clinic were closed and the Labour Department said, in response to a media enquiry from OFM News, that no time frame was given for the required renovations to take place. The department said the facility will remain close until all issues of non-compliance have been rectified. Patients were waiting in long lines outside the clinic to be assisted. 

Nursing staff indicated that a scuffle broke out last week when community members were unhappy about the slow delivery of services and they had to wait in the cold for the mobile clinics that the department dispatched as an interim measure.

ALSO READ: Closure of Free State clinic disputed

Nurses also complained that although renovations were in full swing and the clinic was supposed to be closed, they got instruction to attend to patients inside the dilapidated building. The Labour Department said it received such a complaint, but when inspectors were sent to investigate whether the provincial health department was contravening the notice, no evidence was found to substantiate the complaint.

The Labour Department stated that the consequences of re-opening a prohibited facility amounts to criminal conduct, and a case can be opened with the police. “The department sent an inspector (to the clinic) who found that the arrangements were made for patients to be assisted through a mobile clinic. The health officials only went inside the facility to access and retrieve files and medical supplies,” it replied.

Mvambi previously said the clinic is under construction and was never closed. He said “services are continuing with the Primary Health Care Mobile services”. He said the contractor is on site for the construction of the permanent structure. “This reconstruction took place due to bad weather (torrential rain) that delayed the completion of the reconstruction work that was underway and further caused structural damage,” he explained.

OFM News