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The Democratic Alliance has asked the Northern Cape Health Department to investigate the politically motivated closure of the Jan Witbooi Clinic in Deben.

This comes after an ANC councillor, accompanied by ward committee members, instructed the clinic to close following their dissatisfaction with the response of the facility manager at an unscheduled visit last week.

The clinic was effectively closed for three days, depriving residents of health care. The clinic is already understaffed and overburdened, with the unscheduled closure putting services even further on the back foot.

It is highly irregular and beyond the authority of a councillor to instruct a clinic to shut down. While one understands that the staff may have felt threatened, the prolonged shutdown raises questions about its authorization.

The DA previously conducted an oversight inspection of the facility, where a number of challenges were exposed. We subsequently called for nursing shortages to be addressed, in addition to security being beefed up and solutions to water challenges being implemented.

While there is no doubt that the clinic personnel are under extreme pressure, the facility still provides an essential service to the approximately 120 patients who visit the clinic each day and are dependent on it for their wellbeing.

Playing politics, by putting on a show of force in retaliation to our previous call for action to boost service provision, is uncalled for and will do nothing to help the sick and vulnerable people of Deben, who queue for hours hoping that they might be lucky enough to receive medical attention.

The DA calls for an investigation into the process followed and approval provided for the clinic’s closure. We also want to know what plans the department has to improve service delivery at the Jan Witbooi clinic.

Issued by Boitumelo Sebego, PR Cllr - Gamagara municipality