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Only 4X4s and motorbikes get to Eastern Cape rural health centres
Reconstruct
2000-05-29

Last month the patience of community members in the Mount Frere district of Eastern Cape came to an end.

Last month the patience of community members in the Mount Frere district of the Eastern Cape came to an end.  Tired of repeated calls for the upgrading of the road leading to Sitetu hospital being ignored, they blocked traffic to Umtata on the N2.  With this initiative, the community drew attention to a problem not uncommon in the Eastern Cape, and many other rural areas of South Africa: the poor state of roads leading to health care facilities.

Sitetu hospital lies 40km off the N2 along a dirt road.  After a heavy rainfall, the road becomes impassable and ambulances called to transport emergency patients to Umtata cannot access the hospital.  It makes trying to run a health service very difficult, says Wendy Hall, facilitator for the Health Systems Trust's Initiative for Sub-District Support in Mt Frere.

The blockade was effective: the provincial department of public works is now grading the road.

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