Gauteng health to review health services for rape victims in Diepsloot

Gauteng health department officials will inspect two clinics in Diepsloot‚ north of Johannesburg‚ which are apparently ill-equipped to care for rape victims.

This is in response to concerns raised by nongovernmental organisation Lawyers Against Abuse in the Sowetan newspaper.

The department’s head of communication‚ Prince Hamnca‚ said his department was working on finding solutions to the problem. “A team of clinical forensic specialists will be visiting the clinic to assess the office space with the view of finding a solution to this matter and make alternative arrangements‚” he said.

Lawyers Against Abuse director Lindsay Henson said women in Diepsloot who had been raped had to travel long distances to get post-rape medical care that includes the post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment obtaining forensic DNA from a victim which can be used as evidence in court. PEP is meant to be done with 72 hours of sexual intercourse.

Colonel Noxolo Kweza said Gauteng has 22 clinical forensic units serving 16 clusters‚ of which Diepsloot was one in the Roodepoort cluster.

"There's always someone on standby from the units both day and night. In regard to rape kits‚ these cannot be kept at the community service centre as they are utilised by FCS members and medical doctors‚” said Kweza.

“The FCS unit is responsible for transporting the victims of sexual crimes to hospitals and this is done on a 24 hour basis. Once in hospital‚ a doctor or a qualified forensic nurse does the medical examination. The FCS unit also have forensic social workers that attend to the child victims and take the assessment reports‚ which are utilised in court."