OPINION | Gauteng Health delays 24-hour Cosmo City clinic

In Cosmo City, residents are deeply frustrated with the Gauteng Department of Health's inability to provide a proper 24-hour health facility for the community. The only mobile clinic available, which was donated by Samsung in 2013, operates from Monday to Friday between 7:30 am and 4 pm and serves around 120 patients per day or approximately 2,400 patients per month. However, this clinic is not open on weekends and public holidays, forcing patients to travel long distances to other health facilities.

A non-profit organization called Perfect Start Ministries has been working to build a Cosmo City Holistic Wellness Centre at the corner of Tuvalu Crescent and Australia Street. The organization currently helps around 100 vulnerable children with food from a garden on a 20,079 square metre plot of land. However, there is a lack of a 24-hour health facility, and the Gauteng Department of Health has not secured land or budget to build the facility since 2004, despite claiming to have prioritized the project.

The Gauteng Department of Health has never fulfilled any of its commitments, and the Public Protector has failed the residents of Cosmo City. Ward 100 ANC Councillor Lyborn Ndou claimed that land had been allocated for the facility next to the Cosmo City Fire Station, but the department could not provide any information regarding this.

The Health Department finally responded to inquiries eight months later, stating that the City of Johannesburg should sign the land donation agreement for the facility, but as of now, the Permission to Occupy and Build (PTOB) has only been signed by the Gauteng Department of Health.