The National Department of Health has condemned the action taken by some groups to prevent foreign nationals from accessing essential healthcare services around the country, after campaigners in both Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal blocked clinic and hospital entry to migrant patients, demanding proof of identity before anyone was allowed in.
This week, members of Operation Dudula in Gauteng and of the March and March movement in KZN began manning the entrances of government facilities that included Addington Hospital and Gateway Clinic in Durban, RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth, and Hillbrow Clinic as well as Rosettenville Clinic, south of Johannesburg, in a bid to prevent alleged undocumented foreigners from seeking health services.
The Mercury reports that they accosted patients at the gate and demanded they show ID documents to confirm they were South African nationals.
In Rosettenville last week, foreign nationals were barred from the local clinic by the protesters who said they were fed up with the long queues that mostly comprised illegal foreign nationals and who, they added, are placing a strain on the facility’s already stretched resources, reports Kaya959.
They said the clinic was on the brink of collapse, having already stretched its resources to provide free healthcare – mostly to migrants.
Clinic management denied allegations that it was turning people away, saying it was attending to everyone walking into the health facility, reports eNCA. Some patients in the queue said they had been waiting for assistance for a week.
“Put SA First”
Daily Maverick reports that the various anti-migrant groups broadly fall under the “Put South Africa First” banner – including Operation Dudula, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and several smaller community groups.
The groups are demanding that South Africans be prioritised over undocumented migrants – whom they want deported – for economic opportunities and services, like healthcare, accusing them of burdening the country’s health system to the detriment of locals.
“They demanded proof of our nationalities and denied us access because we are not South Africans. The clinic has our clinic cards because we come here for medical attention,” said a young mother who was at the Rosettenville Clinic to have her baby vaccinated.
The Immigration Act stipulates that only immigration officers and members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) have the authority to ask citizens and foreign nationals to produce valid documentation.
At the Hillbrow Community Clinic, where members of the PA, along with a small group of residents and members of Operation Dudula, denied access to foreign nationals, an off-duty security officer told Daily Maverick that “the (anti-foreigner) groups that have been coming here are not happy with the matron”.
“They feel she is siding with the foreign nationals, and when they came on Friday, some demanded to speak to the clinic’s provincial manager,” he said.
At the Rosettenville Clinic, where community members stood guard at the gates screening patients, Aneliswa Dutshwa, who spoke on behalf of the local anti-migrant group, claimed South African voters’ concerns were not being taken seriously by the government.
“We want Immigration and Home Affairs to be visible. We are not taking a break until they are both visible,” Dutshwa said.
Foreign nationals who were barred from entering the facility said they were also being denied a chance to take their clinic cards so they could seek help elsewhere.
Some said they could afford private healthcare, but, pointed out one Zimbabwean who was at the clinic to collect medication, private health facilities require their clinic cards, with their full medical history. Without their cards they could not go anywhere else.
“I would have left already because it’s clear that they will not allow us in, but I want my clinic card because private health facilities require those. If they can give me my card, I will leave,” she said.
Operation Dulula
Operation Dudula, which has vowed to intensify its operations at health centres, has been calling for the deportation of all undocumented foreign nationals since its emergence in mid-2020.
The group’s Zandile Dabula said they would escalate their operations and also call for doctors who are foreign nationals to be replaced with South Africans, even if the foreigners were legally employed.
The government has condemned the groups and said it would deploy police to maintain peace and enforce the law at the affected facilities.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili said: “These deployments are as and when needed, and should the need arise, the SAPS will respond to its mandate.”
Illegal
Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale said the reports were concerning.
“We have noted with concern these illegal actions,” he said, adding that no one has the right to prevent anyone from medical treatment.
”Everyone who happens to be in the country is protected by a number number of prescripts, including Section 27 of the constitution, the National Health Act, and the Refugees Act of 1998.”
While there were claims that ”those seeking health services are illegal in the country”, and while the department condemns the action of those who enter the country illegally, he said, “no one has the right to take the law into their own hands”.
Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko indicated that her department has begun engaging concerned community-based organisations involved in the campaign, adding that while they noted the concerns by some groups, “our Constitution allows everybody to access healthcare services, so it becomes difficult for us to chase people away”.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) said the rise in complaints from people being turned away from facilities was unlawful, discriminatory, and an infringement on human rights, reports IOL.
“Section 27(1) of the Constitution clearly states that everyone has the right to have access to …. services, including reproductive healthcare,” it said in a statement.
The SAHRC has urged health departments and provincial leaders to address critical issues plaguing the sector, like staff shortages, long waiting times, and insufficient bed availability, saying these challenges, compounded by discriminatory practices, exacerbate healthcare inequity in an already strained system.
Meanwhile, the Forum for South Africa (FOSA) said the Human Rights Commission is failing in its arguments as it advocates for undocumented migrants to access healthcare services in this country.
The organisation added that illegal foreign nationals taking advantage of national health services are not only affecting South Africans, but other – legal – documented foreign nationals.
“They burden the system while accessing medications earmarked for citizens and documented migrants,” said the organisation’s spokesperson, Tebogo Mashilompane.
eNCA article – Joburg clinic allegedly turns away foreign patients (Open access)
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