By Phumlani Saul and Lolwethu Leeu

More than 150 people closed Mondile Clinic in Khayelitsha, Uitenhage, on Tuesday morning.

The protesters sang songs and blocked Mondile Street by burning tyres in front of the gates to the clinic which they had locked.

Zimasa Ngxili said, “Patients arrive at this clinic at 7am and are told to go back home at 3pm without being attended to.” Ngxili said this had been going on for three years. He said nurses arrived at 8am and started working at 10am at a started by gossiping.

“They have a complaint box near the door, but it’s a futile exercise writing complaints, because the very same people who read them are these problematic nurses,” she said.

Another Patient, Noluthando Mpazamo,told DK news, “Last month, they told me my folder is missing.”

Community leader Zamuxolo Xoki said, “Today when we arrived, we were sent outside whilst it was raining. The clinic committee said there was no use sitting inside when there is no one to assist us, because our folders are missing.

“We have been told the data capturer is on leave and that there is no clerk in this clinic. In fact, there has been no clerk at this clinic for over more than 15 years,” said Xoki.

Member of the ten-person clinic committee Lindiswa Poti confirmed that the committee had told residents to stand outside. ”We were waiting for the district officials to arrive … Many folders are missing.”

“The district must appoint a clerk … When the district officials arrived yesterday when we called them, they walked past us to a closed meeting with the nurses.

Eastern Cape Health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said, “Residents are encouraged to raise their concerns but shutting down services is discouraged. I have requested the district manager to attend to their complaints.”