A 68-year-old Phoenix pensioner, David Lutchmea, has resorted to using his wife’s chronic medication after not receiving his own medication due to a backlog of patients at the Phoenix Community Health Centre (Unit 10 Clinic), recently.
Lutchmea expressed his anger and frustration after going to the clinic and not receiving his chronic medication on his allotted date because the staff was still dealing with a backlog of patients from previous days.
“I have chronic diabetes and high blood pressure and I’m heavily dependent on my medication. I recently began using my wife’s chronic medication so that
my health does not deteriorate. Soon, her medication will also run out and how will I get medication for the both us.
“If we don’t receive treatment and our medication on the date set aside for us, we are forced to come back the following day which means we are also spending more money on transportation from our meagre social grants. I am heart broken at the treatment given to myself and hundreds of other elderly patients,” said Lutchmea.
Lutchmea said Covid protocols were not being observed. “Due to the backlog, there’s an influx of patients coming in everyday, which the staff can barely handle. There’s very little social distancing, sanitising, or staff monitoring protocols. The toilets are filthy and sometimes non-functional. They should inform patients early in the morning if they are not going to be seen to so patients can decide if they want to wait throughout the day or go home,” said Lutchmea.
Lutchmea said the elderly, during this pandemic, should not be subjected to large crowds and inhumane conditions. “I feel that the clinic should improve service delivery by getting more nurses and doctors or a system that clears the backlog of patients efficiently. I feel helpless in my old age, to be put through this situation which not only affects me, but hundreds of other senior citizens in the community,” added Lutchmea.
Shan Singh, also a patient at the clinic for over a decade said the service delivery at the Unit 10 Clinic has been a point of concern for the residents of Phoenix, well before the pandemic.
He said: “Some of the issues are staff shortages of nurses and doctors – there are only one of two doctors per night or day shift, nurses go on extended lunch breaks, leaving patients waiting for many hours and there has been many occasions where people have died either waiting or being refused treatment. One would think that after
all these years, there would have been some improvement, instead, the service has declined even more than before.”
Comment from the Department of Health was not forthcoming at the time of going to press.
