October 18, 2005
By Ndaba Dlamini
AN effective and efficient health system for Alex residents is well within reach. As part of the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP), five clinics have been upgraded and improvements to a referral hospital in the sprawling township are currently under way.
Installation of generators, building of car ports and refurbishment of infrastructure have been done at the Eighth Avenue, Fourth Avenue, Marlboro and East Bank clinics, all owned by the City of Johannesburg, and at the Alex Health Centre, popularly known as Masakhane, which is owned by a non-governmental organisation.
The 8th Avenue clinic in Alex
The developments are part of the R1,3-billion ARP, a presidential urban renewal initiative.
"The four clinics offer primary health care. The Alex Health Centre offers a more comprehensive health service," says ARP project manager for health Itumeleng Mahuma. "All five health centres have been painted and tiled. Medicine shelves, office furniture and medical equipment have been purchased and installed."
There are enough clinics for the geographical area covered by the township, she says. "But Alex is very densely populated and the housing problem is impacting negatively on the provision of a reliable health system."
Established in 1912, Alexandra covers an area of more than 800 hectares, including Old Alexandra, the East Bank, the Far East Bank, the Marlboro industrial area, Wynberg, Kew and Marlboro Gardens. There are 700 housing units per hectare.
Mahuma says even though building a hospital or more clinics for Alex would help alleviate health problems, the decision whether to build more clinics lies with the province.
She says the ARP health department's operations are dictated by the surrounding developments, which affect health delivery.
"The Marlboro Clinic has been upgraded to cater for the expected large number of people who are going to settle in the new housing units that are being built."
Located in the industrial area near Alex, at present the clinic is not coping because of the flood of people, mostly living in surrounding warehouses, Mahuma explains.
The Edenvale Hospital, about 2,5 kilometres away from Alex, is one of the most important projects of the ARP. Because of the need to develop a well-coordinated referral system from the primary health services offered at clinics, the Edenvale Hospital was identified as "a hospital that is within reach and is affordably accessible to the community".
There was a need to upgrade the hospital in anticipation of the increase in demand that would result from such referrals.
"The waiting room has been expanded, the tender for upgrading theatres at the hospital advertised and building of a helipad to accommodate the medical air rescue helicopters is on the pipeline," Mahuma says.
A structure at the hospital that housed an HIV/AIDS support service for patients will be relocated and a proper building constructed nearby. "That structure is at roof level and we hope to launch the centre by December," she adds.
Operationally, the ARP has chipped in by employing additional staff for the City's Region 7 on a contractual basis to alleviate the shortage of employees at clinics. Mahuma says the ARP took a "principal agreement" with the region to employ five nurses, to be paid by the project, for one year. The nurses were then incorporated into the region's personnel system for their employment to be sustained long term.
Through the project, voluntary counselling and testing sites have been set up at the Eighth Avenue Clinic and the Alex Health Centre. About R500 000 was spent to establish the service, Mahuma says.
Since the establishment of the project in 2001, there have been a lot of visible changes to the health system, she adds. "Initially, all clinics were ill equipped, but we have managed to turn things around. We have definitely made a difference, even though we haven't won the battle yet."
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