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Community Health Care Workers (CHWs) recently had a COVID-19 screening campaign at Tsietsi extension in Katlehong, East of Johannesburg on Friday, 6 November 2020. The campaign entailed conducting door-to-door screenings in the area. The location was assessed because Tsietsi ext. is not a catchment area, so the campaign is conducted by combined clinics from and around Ekurhuleni South.
This event formed part of the CHWs scheduled tracings. The bus picked them up in the morning and left them at Tsietsi, but it did not pick them up after the campaign was done. The mobile officials that were there, including the team leaders, left with their cars leaving the CHWs without stranded.
This meant that the CHWs had to call the driver themselves. He kept saying he is on his way,but he never arrived. The actions of the coordinators and officials were very inconsiderate. They all left us behind after a long day with no water or food provided. When the CHWs asked, they were told that they now earn salaries to buy themselves food.
CHWs are still undermined and taken for granted. Most of the time, there are no mobile toilets available at the venues chosen for the campaigns. This means that CHWs have to ask households to use toilets. This is not safe for them to do because they are not familiar with the people they are rendering the service to.
This article was submitted on 9 November 2020. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
