Source: SA Protestors Demand ID Verification For Patients At Kalafong Hospital, Vow To Block Foreigners
A group of South Africans has vowed to continue their protests outside Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Atteridgeville township, blocking foreign nationals from accessing healthcare services.
The protestors, calling themselves Concern Tshwane Residents (CTR), argue that the presence of foreign nationals is straining the public healthcare budget, which they claim was not allocated to accommodate them.
As part of their protests, they have been demanding that all patients produce identification at the gate to verify their nationality.
In response to the Gauteng Department of Health’s call for them to cease obstructing other patients and to stop their disruptive actions, the protestors have made it clear they will not back down.
Kagiso Kekana, the leader of Concern Tshwane Residents, said that the recent protests were part of their effort to submit a memorandum of grievances to both the Health MEC’s office and the hospital’s CEO. Said Kekana:
This is not going to be a once-off process but a continuous process until we win this battle.
Kekana said the group of residents believes undocumented immigrants should be denied access to healthcare at the hospital, citing concerns over overcrowding and the strain on the health budget.
He claimed that they want to exclude foreign nationals, asserting that 90% of the hospital’s patients are allegedly undocumented foreigners, who occupy around 60% of the available beds. Said Kekana:
When you go to every ward, there are illegal immigrants and our healthcare system is collapsing. Our doctors and nurses are being overworked because of the influx of immigrants and they are forced to take leave unnecessarily.
David Masedi from the Atteridgeville branch of Operation Dudula said they support the goal of removing foreign nationals from public institutions, describing this as just the beginning of their efforts to reclaim resources for their community.
However, Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Motaletale Modiba said access to healthcare is a constitutional right, and no one should be allowed to deny this right to others.
He added that no one has the right to block others from accessing healthcare services, labelling such actions as illegal and deserving of strong condemnation.
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