Pretoria - The City of Ekurhuleni has opened an R18 million clinic, which will offer health services to the communities of Villa Liza and surrounding areas.
The clinic in Boksburg, opened by Ekurhuleni Mayor Mondli Gungubele on Monday, will also serve Windmill Park, Wolf Informal Settlement and Rooikraal.
The opening of the clinic followed a wreath laying ceremony to commemorate the life and legacy of struggle hero Chris Hani, who was murdered 23 years ago. The City of Ekurhuleni has declared the month of April as Chris Hani Month and uses the month to mobilise all sectors of society observe the ideals of Hani, whose life was cut short before the dawn of democracy.
Mayor Gungubele said Ekurhuleni recently represented Gauteng in a test of ideal clinics. The ideal clinic programme was initiated by the National Department of Health in July 2013 to improve primary health care facilities and the quality of care they provide.
“Out of 10 clinics, four ideal clinics were from Ekurhuleni. This indicates that we take health very serious, as articulated by Chris Hani. We therefore would not do justice to his honour if we were to gather at his grave without touching the lives of the people and that is the significance of this clinic today.
“As the City of Ekurhuleni, we continue to strive to address issues of hunger, housing and health. This clinic is one of the 52 health care facilities using eHealth, an Electronic Health Records system, which enables patients’ health profiles to be registered and accessible in all 52 health care facilities anywhere in the city,” the Mayor said.
Mayena Sibiya, 74, thanked government for bringing the clinic close to her community, as she used to walk close to 4km to access primary health care.
“This is a government that knows what its people want. We used to travel long and far to access health care but that is now a thing of the past,” said Sibiya. – SAnews.gov.za
