iThemba Lethu Clinic is a government accredited ARV-treatment facility at Kopanong Hospital, Vereeniging. It is the fourth biggest Right to Care supported site in Gauteng, with over 2100 patients on ARV treatment.
Right to Care has been supporting the clinic since September 2007. The support mainly takes the form of sourcing staff members and funding their salaries. At the site, Right to Care employs one of the two doctors working at the site. It also employs a primary healthcare nurse, a pharmacy assistant, data capturer, admin clerk and five counsellors trained in PMTCT, TB and Counselling and Testing (CT).
The clinic’s operations are hampered by a severe lack of space. It sees up to 190 patients a day with only two doctors and limited consultation rooms.
Plans are being made to move the clinic to bigger premises. Right to Care has also purchased a four-room container to provide additional space and accommodate the counsellors. Further means of dealing with the large number of patients visiting daily is down-referral. Large numbers of the patients are stable and visit the clinic mainly to collect their medication and for routine check-ups. The check-ups can be done by a primary healthcare nurse and these patients can be down-referred to satellite sites. Right to Care has already identified a clinic suitable as a down-referral site.
Regarding data capturing, Excel spreadsheets are currently used for capturing patients’ data. The implementation of TherapyEdge, a computerised, innovative clinical information system specific to HIV disease management, has been postponed until the move to larger premises.