EThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, Chairperson of the Community Services Committee, Councillor Zama Sokhabase and Regional Manager for TB HIV Care, Ntombifuthi Luthuli during the handover of the fully-fledged Quarry Heights Municipal Clinic.

THE community of Quarry Heights in ward 11 has welcomed the move by eThekwini Municipality to open a fully-fledged clinic in the area. On 17 February, eThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda officially handed over the Quarry Heights Municipal Clinic to the community in partnership with TB HIV Care. The clinic will operate from Monday to Friday.

Previously, the Quarry Heights community was serviced by a mobile clinic once a week. Over and above primary healthcare services which include family planning, screening for TB, HIV and other diseases, the clinic also offers social work services, counselling for sexually abused and gender based violence victims, as well as youth ambassadors and peer educators to ensure that the facility is youth friendly. The facility also has empowerment programmes for women and youth for employability and entrepreneurship purposes. Furthermore, there will also be a satellite war room to accommodate different areas of the vast ward. “We have heard the outcries from this community and we have responded by making sure that primary healthcare services are accessible to residents as there is now a Municipal clinic in this ward. By doing this we have fulfilled the mandate in the South African constitution which says healthcare facilities must be within communities they are meant to serve,” said Mayor Kaunda.

TB HIV Care will also support 29 war rooms and clinics in eThekwini with renovations, youth ambassadors, tablets for data capturing, printers, furniture and uncapped WIFI. Regional Manager for TB HIV Care in eThekwini, Ntombifuthi Luthuli said ensuring that the healthcare facility is youth friendly will assist in attracting young people to make use of the services at the clinic. “We want to assist youth who are living with HIV to get into support groups and be virally suppressed. We also want to ensure that young people who are HIV negative remain and maintain that status,” she explained. Luthuli explained that skills and empowerment programmes are offered by accredited service providers and are free to members of the community. slindile.cele1@durban.gov.za