On Wednesday 29th of October 2020, my mom was in a bad shape and an ambulance was requested by my brother to take her to Jubilee District hospital. I rushed home and arrived as the ambulance was leaving the house.
I was informed by the paramedics that they were taking her to Temba clinic following protocol to first start at the clinic for a referral, if necessary.
I told the paramedic that the practice was in order and he thanked me for understanding. They refused to let me walk my mother in and insisted to allow them to do their job to the end ie to hand my mom over to the clinic staff.
On arrival, the clinic staff gave my mom the utmost care as an emergency case and as an elderly.
We were aided to draw her file urgently, get her blood pressure, and glucose tests were done speedily too. Within 30 minutes, my mother was in the safe and caring hands of Sister Modisane. Dr Nkopodi was summoned and she came promptly to attend to my mother.
She too gave my mother professional and caring attention. The staff came to check on us frequently to make sure my mother was attended to whilst she took her drip.
At the end of the consultation, we all agreed that Temba Clinic deserves this compliment for their outstanding service.
This is a genuine compliment from my family, but more so, from myself as the current Board Member of Jubilee District Hospital. I did not introduce myself as such to avoid any preferential treatment.
Self-referrals cases to Jubilee Hospital is one of the challenges we are grappling with and it is for this reason that I felt it proper to commend first, the ambulance staff for following protocols and secondly to confirm that Temba Clinic is well placed to assess and deal with ailments that do not require referral to Jubilee.
The clinic should be our first point of call in case of any medical care needed.
It is my wish that the community could give the clinic the benefit of doubt and put the clinic to a test and give reviews on any shortcomings that may need improvement.
My mother regained strength and we are really grateful to Temba Clinic for saving her life.