Lesbian women and those who used to live on the streets have detailed constant discrimination while trying to access health services in public clinics and hospitals.
Thato Matlala, 33, of Pretoria, who spent a decade living in the streets, said accessing health services for homeless people is almost impossible because of stigma.
“When we go to clinics, no-one takes us seriously. People judge us by our looks. The moment they see us at the entrance, they think we are criminals. No-one thinks that you are there as a patient.
“Sometimes you go there having not bathed for a month, smelling and dirty; people simply look at you funny as though you are just one of the nyaope boys. In most cases we don’t even get past security because everyone thinks we are there to cause trouble,” Matlala said.
Even in cases when he was lucky enough to pass the security entrance, the nature of the public health system does not speak to his condition as someone who is homeless and takes drugs.
“Drugs are not like food. You can go without food the whole day, with drugs it is not like that. I cannot come to the hospital at 7am and stay until 3pm without drugs. The queues at the hospital are long. No-one has the care to understand that you have special needs as a drug addict. In many instances the staff will tell say ‘you have done this to yourself’,” Matlala said.
Matlala lived on the streets, using drugs and struggling with issues of mental health. He was fortunate to find help with Community Oriented Substance Use Programme (Cosup). They helped him with the drug addiction and even helped him reunite with his family.
The nurses will ask you how come you doing a test because you are dating a lady.
— Rofhiwa Tshigomana, a lesbian
Matlala now works with Cosup on the streets and under the bridges, encouraging homeless people to come to the programme and get help.
“It is easier for people on the streets to come for help when they see someone they know. They have the comfort that I will not judge them because I know what they are going through,” he said.
On Tuesday, Matlala was part of a group of non-governmental organisations that were at the launch of a centre of excellence at the Skinner Clinic in Pretoria, which focuses on providing health services to homeless people, sex workers, drug addicts, transgender women, and men who sleep with other men.
It is the third of its kind in the province to be opened for free services after two others — one in Vosloorus and the other on the West Rand.
The aim of the clinic is to tailor health services to members of the key population who constantly face rejection and stigma when trying to access public health facilities. These groups are deemed to be at higher risk for transmission of HIV and STI than the general population due to structural, sociocultural and behavioural factors.
Rofhiwa Tshigomana, a lesbian, said sometimes she would go to the clinic and ask to do an HIV test.
“The nurses will ask you how come you doing a test because you are dating a lady. Even when you present yourself at the clinic with an STI, they question why you have such,” Rofhiwa said.
“They even accuse you of sleeping with both men and women. It is extremely difficult to go to the health facility as a lesbian.
“It is always better to go to a space where people have been specially trained to deal with us,” she added.
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