On Wednesday June 1, Western Cape Health Department's (WCHD) officer Dr Saadiq Kariem was interviewed on CapeTalk about access to chronic medications for WCHD patients. He spoke of two options: collection at a department facility or delivery to their homes. He made it sound so easy. He didn't mention, though, that at many community health clinics aka day hospitals there's a wait, often hours, to simply collect medicines even when clinics already have patients' current scripts on file. I myself tried that - the first time and last time I'd been to a clinic for collection - but left after two hours without even being attended to. I buy my meds which fortunately are not the expensive kind. People cannot take off hours every month merely to collect meds but the poor have no alternative. I gather problems may be clinic specific. On a related matter, during an after hours phone call that weekend, Groote Schuur Hospital's chief operating officer Dr Belinda Jacobs told ...
Blog on medical and health matters with a focus on the Western Cape's public health system.