Pregnant women queue before dawn
State clinics in Windhoek are refusing to do more than ten first-time antenatal screenings per day.
Nurses at the Robert Mugabe Street and Khomasdal clinics told Namibian Sun that they simply would not get their work done if they did more screenings.
The nurses advised pregnant women to queue from 05:00 because there is already a long queue when the clinic opens at 08:00.
A retired nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that it can take an hour to attend to one patient reporting for her first antenatal visit.
“This is the time we take all types of blood tests. The patient will also receive HIV counselling and their vital signs are also taken during this visit. Nurses must also take the patient's medical history and this requires a lot of paperwork,” she said. According to the guardian of a pregnant teenager, they have arrived at Robert Mugabe Street clinic at 05:00 on several occasions but were too late to make the top ten.
“They told us that we must go to the nearest clinic and we did, but we simply do not make it on time. I cannot go from Rocky Crest to Donkerhoek clinic in Katutura. If I do not make it on time to the Robert Mugabe clinic, how will I make it on time to Donkerhoek?”
By lunch hour last Monday, Namibian Sun saw pregnant women still sitting and begging nurses at the Robert Mugabe Street clinic to assist them, despite the new rule.
One of the women was eventually seen by a nurse because her boyfriend had made a scene.
Nurses at the clinic say the best advice is to arrive very early on a Monday morning for antenatal screenings. On Tuesdays they do PAP smears and the other days are for different services.
“Monday is best for antenatal screenings,” one told Namibian Sun.
When Namibian Sun visited some of these clinics it also turned out that patients' medical histories were recorded on sheets of paper torn from a notepad.
In August, Namibian Sun reported that the Robert Mugabe Street clinic had been operating without medical passports for more than a year and instead made use of A4 printer paper, while women seeking family planning services were advised to bring along a small notebook.
At the time the ministry promised to sort out the problem but medical passports apparently are once again out of stock.
When contacted for comment, health permanent secretary Petronella Masabane appeared to be completely in the dark.
”Thank you very much for bringing these concerns to my attention. I am going to urgently look into this matter because if this is the case in practice, then it flies in the face of the ministerial policy and objectives of striving to improve maternal and child healthcare,” she said.
She added that she had requested reports from her directors in the ministry.
JEMIMA BEUKES
Nurses at the Robert Mugabe Street and Khomasdal clinics told Namibian Sun that they simply would not get their work done if they did more screenings.
The nurses advised pregnant women to queue from 05:00 because there is already a long queue when the clinic opens at 08:00.
A retired nurse, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that it can take an hour to attend to one patient reporting for her first antenatal visit.
“This is the time we take all types of blood tests. The patient will also receive HIV counselling and their vital signs are also taken during this visit. Nurses must also take the patient's medical history and this requires a lot of paperwork,” she said. According to the guardian of a pregnant teenager, they have arrived at Robert Mugabe Street clinic at 05:00 on several occasions but were too late to make the top ten.
“They told us that we must go to the nearest clinic and we did, but we simply do not make it on time. I cannot go from Rocky Crest to Donkerhoek clinic in Katutura. If I do not make it on time to the Robert Mugabe clinic, how will I make it on time to Donkerhoek?”
By lunch hour last Monday, Namibian Sun saw pregnant women still sitting and begging nurses at the Robert Mugabe Street clinic to assist them, despite the new rule.
One of the women was eventually seen by a nurse because her boyfriend had made a scene.
Nurses at the clinic say the best advice is to arrive very early on a Monday morning for antenatal screenings. On Tuesdays they do PAP smears and the other days are for different services.
“Monday is best for antenatal screenings,” one told Namibian Sun.
When Namibian Sun visited some of these clinics it also turned out that patients' medical histories were recorded on sheets of paper torn from a notepad.
In August, Namibian Sun reported that the Robert Mugabe Street clinic had been operating without medical passports for more than a year and instead made use of A4 printer paper, while women seeking family planning services were advised to bring along a small notebook.
At the time the ministry promised to sort out the problem but medical passports apparently are once again out of stock.
When contacted for comment, health permanent secretary Petronella Masabane appeared to be completely in the dark.
”Thank you very much for bringing these concerns to my attention. I am going to urgently look into this matter because if this is the case in practice, then it flies in the face of the ministerial policy and objectives of striving to improve maternal and child healthcare,” she said.
She added that she had requested reports from her directors in the ministry.
JEMIMA BEUKES
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article