Closure of clinic in Motherwell leads to protest outside facility

CAPE TOWN - Staff shortages and closure of the NU8 Clinic in Motherwell in Gqeberha has led to protest action outside the health facilities gates.
 
The National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW) in the Eastern Cape and affected community members are demanding that the department provide answers and the opening of the clinic.
 
NUPSAW said before its closure last week, the health facility operated with only two professional nurses to serve hundreds of patients daily.
 
The union's Eastern Cape secretary, Mzikazi Nkata, said this had resulted in many patients being turned away without receiving treatment.
 
"We know the fact that many of the nurses from this clinic resigned last year July, and they resigned due to the introduction of the two-pot system. What we are saying as the organisation and as a community, it can't be that since July up until now you haven't done anything in those funded posts. Remember when a person is resigning, a post is left fully funded."
 
Eastern Cape health department spokesperson, Mkhululi Ndamse, confirmed that some of their facilities in Nelson Mandela Bay had been negatively affected by staff shortages due to resignations because of the two-pot pension systems and criminality.
 
"The department is committed to filling vacancies within the available envelope. The department has explained to staff and union leaders that because of budgetary constraints, it is currently not possible to fill all the vacancies."