The MEC for Health, Hon Sindiswa Gomba officially opened the Hamburg Clinic on 08 October 2019, Tuesday, in Hamburg near Peddie.

The total cost for the construction of the clinic is more than R22 million in value. The clinic was built to provide quality health services and ensure health coverage for the community of Hamburg.  

The newly built clinic has six consulting rooms. Each room is well equipped with modern day state of the art equipment such as examination couches and working tools. One room is built for serving emergency cases. There is a functional office with a computer for records managements. Patients’ records are now filed electronically and in hard copies. The facility also has a kitchen, a drugs store room as well as public toilets for patients.

Patient safety is also first priority for the Department of Health, because a security guard house has been built at the entrance and will work 24 hours a day.

On the occasion of the opening and handing over of the new clinic, Hon MEC Sindiswa Gomba met with the community members of Hamburg and she promoted healthy lifestyle to the community. She told them about the diseases that we face as communities, such as HIV and Aids, mental issues and high blood pressure.

“Everyone has a right to proper health services and as parents we have to teach children about sexual diseases”, said Hon Gomba.

She also emphasized that mental health must not be taken for granted, because it is a serious issue.

“People are unaware of mental illness and the symptoms. Mental health is an important sector in Department of Health and it affects everyone”

The community of Hamburg had suffered a lot because they were not getting quality health services due to not having a clinic in their area. The Department of Health heard the grievances of the community and health professionals in Hamburg and responded to them, since their old clinic structure fell as a result of strong winds.

Chairperson of the Clinics Committee in Hamburg, Mr Khayalethu Peyi said that it was difficult for the community before this new clinic was built.

“It was a challenging issue for old age people to reach the clinic, because it was on top of the hill,” said Mr Peyi.

Councilor of Ward 12 Mr Siyabulela Sanga Maneli, expressed words of appreciation to Hon Gomba and said “the clinic gives us hope”.

“We clearly see if we get inside the clinic there is life inside the clinic”, he added.

The whole Hamburg community and the surrounding areas will now have access to quality health care services. They will not have to spend long hours queuing, because of the improved systems of the new clinic, as well as the availability of six fully functional consulting rooms, as opposed to the old clinic that had only two consulting rooms.

 Zimkhitha Tayo