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The Gauteng Health Department has promised to deal with those involved in turning away patients from its healthcare facilities and to re-train all frontline staff on proper customer care.

“The right of women and children to emergency medical care is specifically guaranteed by our constitution. No security guard has a right to take it away,” said Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu during an unannounced visit to Lenasia South Clinic yesterday afternoon.

The visit was prompted by public complaints after the deaths of two children who were allegedly denied medical assistance at the facility by security guards. Other parents reported that they were also forced to seek alternative help for their visibly injured children after guards claimed there were no doctors on duty and that the facility was too full to allow them inside.

At a meeting with the facility management team, the MEC emphasized and reminded managers that “security guards have no business in patient care”.

“We gave them a month to correct the situation and bring it back to normality. We also send the Gauteng government’s deep felt condolences to the bereaved families on their loss,” added MEC Mahlangu.

The complaints of denied access in this clinic came as the department is strengthening primary healthcare as the cornerstone of a vision to provide universal access in order to achieve a healthy life for all our citizens in the Province.

“If we are to succeed in making primary health care an entry point to care we must also re-train all our frontline staff on proper customer care and patient’s rights,” Mahlangu said.

She concluded by sending a stern message to managers to be accountable to the people they serve and further announced that all facilities will soon be assessed for their readiness for the National Health Insurance (NHI) rollout which seeks to achieve universal access.

Issued by Gauteng Health