In Nelson Mandela Bay alone, more than 1,700 patients with TB fell out of the clinic system during the national lockdown while health facilities focused on Covid-19. Almost all other services were relegated to the backburner.
As the Treatment Action Campaign began its first round of oversight visits to clinics in Nelson Mandela Bay this week, the Eastern Cape health department admitted that clinics in the metro had lost contact with many of TB patients during lockdown.
“One of the things that came out was that, when the coronavirus outbreak started, other services were no longer given any priority at our clinics,” said Yawa.“After the advent of Covid-19, HIV and other services were no longer a priority at our facilities. We look at the number of patients with TB – about 1,700 – that were lost to follow-up,” he said.
“While we were there, a man came to see us. He was authorised to collect medication for a person who was at work, but he had been coming there since early July without being helped because nurses said the patient’s file is missing. He said two of the clinics in Despatch were too small for the number of people requiring assistance. “These clinics should have been extended a long time ago. In some instances, there are two nurses sharing a room. There is no patient confidentiality. Or in some cases, the one nurse and her patient must leave… then the waiting times get very long,” he said.
“We’ve asked district management to write to their facility managers and request them not to lock patients out, or to turn them away. It is imperative that people have access to health services,” he said.“There is no turning back. We are not asking for anything out of the ordinary. We just want to assert our right to healthcare,” he said.
A woman from Motherwell, who asked to remain anonymous after allegedly being threatened by nurses, also told of her “nightmare” at clinics in her area when her niece became ill and showed symptoms of a possible coronavirus infection. Nurses allegedly refused to help her, saying she was a “known defaulter”.
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