Ekurhuleni Health Facilities in the Lead in Gauteng
The latest ideal clinic status realisation and maintenance report of the South African National Department of Health, reveal that Ekurhuleni’s has achieved the highest percentage of Ideal Clinics in Gauteng.
Reporting on the City’s achievements during the State of the City Address in March, the Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Cllr Mzwandile Masina reported that in terms of the Ideal Clinic Realisation and Maintenance report, Ekurhuleni is at first place in the province and overall second in the country.
“All 93 clinics within the City were assessed in terms of the National Core Standards, with 77 platinum, 14 gold and 2 silver. This is a significant improvement from three years ago when our 18 received the platinum status, 55 at gold status and 20 with a silver status,” said the mayor.
According to the Gauteng Health Department, for a facility to be recognised as ideal, it should have good infrastructure, adequate staff and medicine supplies as well as good administrative processes and sufficient bulk supplies.
The Ideal Clinic guidelines further state that add an Ideal Clinic should use partner and stakeholder support and cooperate with the other government departments as well as with private sector and non-governmental organisations to address the social determinants of health.
Such a clinic is differentiated from an ordinary clinic through its introduction of unique features such as booking system for patients with chronic diseases which benefits the patients through convenient time slots allocation that reduces congestion and long waiting times.
These interventions that have been implemented in Ekurhuleni’s health facilities for years, and have yielded positive results, especially during the Covid19 pandemic.
All 93 clinics in the City are continuously assessed and achieve positive outcomes. This is in preparation for the National Health Insurance (NHI), which Ekurhuleni’s clinics are actively participating in through the Ideal Clinic national project.
