Denis Hurley Centre Clinic spreads its wings

Only 2.5km from City Hall, near the Dalton Hostel on the south side of the city, is a shockingly dirty area where over 400 people are living in and around an old beer hall.

For the past two years, the clinic team from the Denis Hurley Centre have been visiting the area – providing desperately needed health care to those affected by poor living conditions and lack of sanitation. There are no toilets on the site and only one water tap. The team has also been advocating for the residents—some of them drug addicts but others just struggling families— acting as a ‘voice for the voiceless’.

Now their efforts are paying off: Container World has generously converted a container to create a new clinic where people can be treated in a clean, safe and private environment. Student doctors from UKZN School of Medicine are joining forces with clinic staff to provide a daily health service.  And the Municipality has committed to providing fencing, rehabilitating the abandoned toilet block, and creating a drop-in centre for social services.

Until recently, city officials were feared for their random harassment of the Dalton residents; they may now be seen as public servants willing to go the extra mile for these most marginalised of Durban citizens.