South Africa: Cape doctors ‘soft targets’

Original Post Date: 2010-02-24 Time: 22:00:02  Posted By: News Poster

By Sipokazi Maposa
Health Writer

Doctors practising in parts of the Cape Flats say they work in fear and are being “targeted” by criminals.

Speaking after a spate of robberies and burglaries at surgeries, doctors said they felt “vulnerable” and were concerned about being seen as “soft targets”.

Although no one had been killed or injured, doctors said a lot of money had been lost in stolen equipment and supplies.

In the most recent robbery, a Nyanga doctor was robbed at gunpoint on Saturday afternoon. Four robbers posing as patients entered the doctor’s rooms.

“One kept the receptionist busy while two entered the doctor’s room,” Nyanga police spokeswoman Captain Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said.
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“They pointed the firearm at the doctor, demanded cash and took a cellphone.”

The doctor, who did not want to be named, told of his fear of working in the area.

“It was very scary, but I feel relieved they didn’t hurt me.

“I know it’s not only doctors who are affected by this problem. It happens everywhere… even people walking on the streets are held at gunpoint or knifepoint.

“I’m still very shaken by the incident and I fear for my life. Doctors operate in fear… you just don’t know when they will strike again or whether you will get home alive.”

He believes doctors are considered “soft targets”.

“I know of two doctors down the road who were held at gunpoint last year and the year before,” he said.

A doctor who practises in Lansdowne Road, Philippi, said a neighbouring doctor’s surgery had been burgled four times last year.

“Doctors are here to provide a service to underprivileged communities, but I’m afraid crime is going to drive them out of the area,” he said. “People are getting really scared. I think police need to take this seriously and give us some kind of protection.”

In NY102, Gugulethu, a doctor’s surgery was cleaned out by burglars just after Christmas Day. Not only were medical supplies and equipment stolen, but also a computer, a television set, a fridge, and office furniture.

The burglars also smashed a fish tank, killing the fish.

On February 14, at Dr Dhevan Naidoo’s surgery at the Kuwait Taxi Rank in Site C, Khayelitsha, burglars broke in through a window and stole a box of medicine, a television set, diagnostic kits, a nebuliser, fax machine, and other items.

Khayelitsha police spokeswoman Captain Anneke van der Vyver dismissed suggestions that robberies and burglaries at doctors’ surgeries were spiralling out of control. Police could not “recall robberies or a high number of burglaries at doctor’s rooms in the Khayelitsha police precinct”, she said.

Sitshitshi advised people, including doctors, to be vigilant and to inform police of any people they suspected of loitering around their properties.