KwaMagxaki clinic workers robbed at gunpoint

Staff at a Gqeberha clinic were held at gunpoint and robbed of their personal belongings on Wednesday evening.

Eastern Cape Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth has condemned the robbery, yet another such incident targeting healthcare workers in the city.

A group of armed men are believed to have entered the KwaMagxaki Clinic and threatened workers, locking them inside the building before making off with their cellphones and other valuables, as well as the keys to the facility.

“Such thuggery deserves to be condemned in the strongest words possible.

“Clinics and healthcare workers should not be robbed but protected by communities because when they are targeted by thugs, it will be the communities that suffer at the end of the day,” Meth said in a statement.

“This is why we are calling on communities to work with law enforcement agencies and the department of health to ensure the criminals targeting our workers and facilities are arrested and successfully prosecuted.

“These criminals are our children, siblings and friends, so let’s not protect them any longer because what they are doing will negatively affect the quality of services that we deliver to the millions of people in the Eastern Cape,” she added.

Counselling will be provided for the workers that were left traumatised by the incident.

This robbery comes as Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel have been the target of criminals for the past few years, being robbed at gunpoint when responding to medical emergencies.

Earlier this week, clinics in the Bay were also illegally closed, leading to service delivery disruptions.

Among these clinics were the Wells Estate Clinic and the health facility in Motherwell NU2, where people padlocked the entrance, allegedly demanding that former contract workers be permanently employed.

HeraldLIVE