Communities in the Eastern Cape are up in arms about the breakdown in health services in this province and activist groups here are pressurising local and provincial departments for answers and solutions.

Concerned residents earlier this month met with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Section 27 in Lusikisiki to stipulate their grievances about the health services and try and come up with solutions for these problems.

Some of the most pressing issues with the health services in the Eastern Cape identified at the meeting were the poor state of the of Village Clinic in Lusikisiki where there is no electricity or running water, the Madwaleni Hospital in Elliotdale with serious staff shortages, the state of neglect of Zithulele Hospital, and budget irregularities.

At the end of January, community members in Lusikisiki marched to the offices of the local Department of Health to hand over a memorandum stipulating their grievances about the Village Clinic. The sub-district manager, Mrs Ntlangulela, accepted the memorandum and promised to forward it to her superiors.

In the memorandum the department was given 14 working days to respond to the grievances of the people.

Mtshana Mvlisi is an OurHealth Citizen Journalist reporting from Lusikisiki in the OR Tambo health district in the Eastern Cape.