Pretoria - In an effort to reduce pressure on hospitals, the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development has urged provincial communities to use their local clinics for treatment.
Since last year, the department has extended service hours to 24-hours at some Community Health Centres (CHC) in a bid to strengthen primary health care.
"To beef up personnel at clinics, 34 out of 35 CHCs, including Khutsong, have resident doctors and 248 out of 318 fixed clinics are supported by a doctor at least once a week," the department said in a statement.
Family physicians have also been deployed from tertiary hospitals to strengthen district hospitals and primary healthcare facilities. All CHCs and clinics now provide services for patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, epilepsy TB and those on ARV treatment.
Only patients in need of specialised care will be referred to hospitals. In addition, the department has implemented the Kgatelopele project with an aim to reduce waiting times at all public health facilities.
"The project ensures the delivery of chronic medication to patients at their homes, where community health workers test these patients. They only visit facilities once in six months for an examination by a doctor - unless they have complications," the department said.
However, the department acknowledged that there are challenges in the retention of health professionals, waiting times, regular supply of medicines and monitoring of non-profit organisations.
"These are receiving ongoing attention in order to truly improve the performance of the public health system."
