Communities in crisis

By Treatment Action Campaign

The Treatment Action Campaign has shared the following stories with Spotlight from their provincial operations in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State. Elsewhere in this issue of Spotlight we take an in-depth look at Gauteng – which is therefore not included here.

France, KwaZulu-Natal

The community of France in KwaZulu-Natal does not have a clinic. A mobile clinic comes to the community just once a month. But most people don’t use it; some don’t even know about it. Instead they travel by taxi to other clinics – if they can find the money. Sometimes they must lie about where they live in order to see a nurse, or they simply go without medicines and health services altogether. Only certain community caregivers can deliver medicines to patients, if they have an ID, and if the patient is being treated at the mobile clinic. The rest, however ill, have to collect medicines themselves. It seems people are defaulting on ARVs, TB treatment and other chronic medicines as a result. We can never have #treatment4all – or #EndTB – when people can’t even get to the clinic. TAC members have asked the people of France how only having a mobile clinic affects them. The resounding response is that once a month is not enough. To resolve service deficiencies such as this one, which keep the dual epidemics burning, health system challenges must be addressed in the National Health Department’s test-and-treat plan and within the new National Strategic Plan on HIV, TB and STIs. Otherwise we are doomed.  #FranceNeedsAClinic.

Khujwana, Limpopo

Within a few hours of walking door to door through the streets of Khujwana it is clear there is a major problem. Every home has a story to tell – a story of frustration and suffering, a story of failure.

While the local clinic looks functional, even ‘pleasant’, from the outside with its solid infrastructure and garden, inside it s a totally different matter. Many patients report ongoing stockouts and shortages of their medicines. They wait for hours before being seen by anyone – there is a shortage of nurses and no doctors ever come. Some go to other clinics altogether. People report incidences of nurses treating them badly, being rude or, worse, negligent. Mothers report the indignity of having been mistreated, or unattended to, in the midst of labour. Khujwana Clinic is failing the people and the community it is meant to serve. Tired of this situation, the community is mobilising. Testimonies from community members who try to use the clinic are being gathered. Local stakeholders are coming together to draw attention to the major shortcomings. All they want is a clinic that can give them the health-care services they need. They are clear: They will continue to escalate this issue until they #FixKhujwanaClinic.

Boekenhouthoek, Mpumalanga

The local TAC branch in Boekenhouthoek receives ongoing complaints about the local clinic. People

report waiting for long periods of time, with or without being seen. There aren’t enough nurses stationed in the clinic exacerbating this issue. The clinic is too small, and people wait outside while waiting to be seen. The clinic is faced with regular stockouts and shortages of medicines meaning people are often sent home empty handed. Some community members choose to go to different clinics altogether. A luxury that many of those unemployed people who live in the area cannot afford. Traditional leaders confirm these conditions, from personal experience. One woman spoke of never receiving a TB diagnosis, months after taking a test. One man spoke of misdiagnosis. Another had never been told he had HIV, yet had been prescribed ARVs for more than four years with serious side effects. People reported of nurses being rude to them in moments of severe vulnerability. The TAC Boekenhouthoek branch is monitoring the clinic and gathering information from residents about the challenges they face. How can we reach #treatment4all if clinics run out of medicines? Or if people don’t want to use them because of the lengthy waits and poor service? The reality is that the dysfunction in our health-care system will stop the new HIV guidelines on test-and-treat from being a success. We need significant investment into stronger systems in order to respond to the HIV and TB epidemics. #BetterBoekenClinic

Phuthaditjhaba, Free State

Members of the TAC in Phuthaditjhaba have reported serious problems at Manapo Hospital that are putting people’s right to access health care in serious jeopardy. This report followed a strike by frustrated, overburdened staff members, including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, porters, cleaners, and kitchen staff, who claimed to have not received pay for significant amounts of overtime since 2015. TAC members investigated the hospital and spoke to many patients entering and exiting the facility. Reports of long waiting times, a lack of nurses, doctors, and other staff being stretched beyond their capacity, and medicine shortages, were common.

After being stabbed in the forehead, one teenager reported not seeing a doctor after seven days of waiting. Another teenager had been stabbed in the upper chest four days earlier. He was also still waiting to see a doctor. A woman with a homemade sling and swollen wrist left the hospital in pain to return to the clinic. One man, falling in and out of consciousness, was told to return to casualty with a referral letter. Outside the hospital, visibly injured patients could be seen wandering the grounds in their pyjamas. After taking a rest on the grass, one young man with bandages across his face struggled to stand up and had to be assisted by two other patients to get onto his feet before limping back inside. Portable toilets remain outside the hospital after a water crisis the month before. It is unclear whether the water shortages continue. A TAC member helped a man with crutches who struggled to climb up the metal steps to enter the toilet. If urgent action is not taken to turn around this crisis, the TAC will be forced yet again to embark on a campaign of civil disobedience in order to save the lives of those reliant on the failing public health-care system. #FSHealthCrisis