This weeks’s councillor’s corner question is:
More City of Johannesburg health clinics’ operating hours are being extended, but not all.
Why is this? And when do you think they will all be extended?
Tim Truluck, ward 117 councillor answered:
Under Parks Tau, the City once had slightly extended hours in the evening and were open on Saturday mornings but they were among the first things that got cut (along with many other entities) when the City was short of money a few years ago.
The whole concept of having extended opening hours at the municipal clinics was one of Herman Mashaba’s campaign promises and not just until 5pm and Saturdays, but until later in the evenings, on both Saturday and Sunday and on public holidays.
This means that hard working residents don’t have to take time off from work, or wait for the weekend to be able to access primary healthcare.
However, it does cost quite a bit of money to extend the opening hours and days of the clinics.
For instance, an extra R7 million in the recently adjusted budget was allocated to the five latest clinics that are going to stay open for longer.
That is only for the remaining four months of the financial year.
So that works out to an extra R350 000 per month or R4.2 million per year, per clinic.
I would expect that as more money is found, as more staff are hired, then more clinics will have extended opening hours.
And, of course, it is important that they continue to stay open during these extended hours and not be subjected to closure because of poorly managed budgets.
Do you have a question for a ward councillor?
As a local newspaper, the Randburg Sun provides a platform for residents to learn about, understand and follow local government.
As an extension of that, there is a weekly column called Councillor’s Corner which is a platform for you, our readers, to voice your concerns or questions for ward councillors to respond to.
Different, willing ward councillors will respond to a question each week.
Email your burning question to: aimeed@caxton.co.za and let’s get the ball rolling.
