The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has accused public healthcare workers in Mpumalanga of violating the rights of sex workers and LGBTQIA+ groups, after the release of the third edition of the Mpumalanga State of Health report by the Ritshidze project showed these groups were frequently on the receiving end of bad attitudes and poor treatment from staff.
The community-led clinic monitoring project, aimed at improving the quality of public healthcare services in the public sector, has revealed numerous cases of shoddy treatment, discrimination and hostility towards people with HIV/Aids, sex workers, drug addicts and the LGBTQIA+ community, reports News24.
This, said the report, has discouraged people from seeking anti-retroviral treatment and other health services.
Data were collected between April and May 2023 at 43 public health facilities through observations and interviews with 2 320 healthcare users across the province.
“During this period, only 62% of people thought the staff were always friendly and professional. However, 37% still thought they were only sometimes or never friendly, and there has been limited change over the past year,” showed the report.
Additionally, only 40% of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men said staff were always friendly, and “only 24% of people who use drugs, only 48% of sex workers, and just 47% of trans people – and the majority of key populations interviewed – did not feel safe or comfortable at the facility”.
The report recommended the Mpumalanga Health Department ensures that all clinical and non-clinical staff were sensitised to provide friendly services to vulnerable populations.
“Reports of poor staff attitude, privacy violations, or verbal or physical abuse should be urgently investigated,” added the report.
“Significant numbers of people we interviewed were also refused access to services in the last year because of they used drugs, or were sex workers, or part of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
TAC chairperson Sibongile Tshabalala said they were concerned with reports of hostile treatment and denial of care.
However, she also commended the Mpumalanga Health Department for its progress on cutting waiting times by nearly an hour over the past year and for getting more people on three months’ supplies of ARVs.
Ritshidze-State-of-Health-Mpumalanga-2023
News24 article – Mpumalanga clinics are treating key groups with hostility and humiliation, report finds (Restricted access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Mpumalanga holds men’s health dialogues
Survey confirms difficulties of SA’s key populations in accessing healthcare
Possible to provide good quality public sector care to the MSM group
Condom shortage places Mpumalanga sex workers, truckers at risk