Even though services have returned to normal, employees at the Chiawelo Community Health Centre in Soweto are grappling with fear following a harrowing incident that unfolded on Tuesday morning.
In an attack reported to have occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning, a group of unidentified men stormed the emergency unit of the health centre, leaving staff shaken and an intern doctor injured.
According to community members, this occurred despite the presence of security personnel, including the Gauteng Crime Prevention Wardens, who were deployed to enhance safety and security at the community healthcare centre.
Reports indicate that the unknown suspects entered the clinic by impersonating themselves as crime prevention wardens seeking emergency medical assistance.
An employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that the latest incident is not the first one as there have been two other similar incidents in the past.
“What safety? There is no safety here as we continue to live in fear of an even bigger incident, much like the one that took place in Limpopo recently where nurses were raped in the bushes by criminals.
“As healthcare workers who provide a service to the community, we expect the community to protect us, but here, criminals in the community have turned against us,” she said.
A street vendor who services patients coming in and out of the clinic indicated that safety within the township is a big concern.
“No one is safe. I do not think those workers there are safe. How can they feel safe when one of their own was attacked in the middle of the night. It is even worse because these criminals are armed and the security personnel deployed at the clinic are not armed.
“They are not equipped to deal with criminals with guns in the middle of the night,” she said.
The hawker, who is also a victim of crime in her home in the area, revealed that crime is rampant and no one knows what to do as criminals do as they please.
“My phone was stolen at my home by local criminals who are known. We can’t even open a case against them because their parents bail them out as soon as we open a case,” she added.
According to the Gauteng Department of Health, the robbers held the security personnel at gunpoint, stealing personal belongings from both medical staff and security guards.
One of the workers managed to escape the scene unnoticed and called the police and when the law enforcement arrived at the facility, the robbers had already fled the scene, with a case of armed robbery opened at the nearby Moroka police station.
Spokesperson for the Gauteng Health Department, Motalatale Modiba, condemned the incident as it puts the lives of workers as well as patients at risk.
“This act of violence jeopardises the safety of healthcare workers and also disrupts the smooth provision of the much-needed primary healthcare services to the community. The department calls on the community to work with law enforcement agencies to help bring these perpetrators to book,” Modiba said.
The department reported that it has beefed up its security on the premises.
“The department understands the fears and the concerns expressed by staff members in the aftermath of this incident and has put measures in place to strengthen the security protocols at the facility, including the deployment of additional security personnel and the improvement of the surveillance systems,” he said.
Attempts to get comment from Gauteng police were unsuccessful at the time of going to print.