A group of Kewtown mothers have called for a 24-hour healthcare facility in Athlone saying they cannot afford high transport costs during an emergency.
On Tuesday, the mothers were joined by the EFF as they picketed outside the Dr Abdurahman Community Day Centre (CDC) demanding better services.
Mom Jamie Spandiel, 37, says on Monday night her two-year-old asthmatic son, Zacharie, was struggling to breathe and she had to get someone to take him to the Heideveld Emergency Room.
“The problem in Kewtown is that a lot of us have no other place to go to. You cannot get in a taxi in the middle of the night if you have to pay someone and we pay between R180 and R220 for a one-way trip,” she says.
“I had to give him Panados to calm him down and came to Dr Abdurahman where I have been waiting from 6.10am to get him help and it’s now past 12.”
The group handed over a memorandum with their concerns about operating hours, lack of medication and complaints about staff to a representative of the CDC.
Health department spokesperson, Monique Johnstone, says the Dr Abdurahman CDC and Silvertown Clinic offer an 8-hour healthcare service.
Clinical hours are from 7am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
She says it is not possible to extend the operating hours of Dr Abdurahman CDC due to budget constraints.
“The 24-hour Vanguard Community Health Centre (CHC) is in close proximity of Dr Abdurahman Community Day Centre,” she says.
She added the department would respond to the memorandum within the stipulated time frame.
monique.duval@inl.co.za