You can keep your medicines, I'd prefer a social grant

By Sadiyya Sheik

The social welfare grant has become as common as pain as far as main complaints go. Having spent the past month working at an ARV clinic, I have seen many patients, South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) forms in hand, a determined yet pained expression on their faces, clamouring for a sought-after signature.

I remember one of these patients quite clearly. She was dressed in a smart red blouse, one of those wide waist-belt contraptions and snug denim jeans with accompanying red heels. Tottering into the consulting room, she sat down and proceeded to list her non-specific complaints, abovementioned pained expression down to a T. One of these complaints was that she didn’t have money for food. Really? And the red heels? Now I don’t wear heels and that’s besides the point, but if I were desperately hungry I would spend my money on something, I don’t know, just a tad more edible.

The sad thing about this situation is that this patient might actually be successful in her application for a social grant while someone in the situation that she pretends to be in, someone who really has no food on their table and no means of getting it there, someone who doesn’t even have access to medical care when they desperately need it, someone who genuinely deserves financial assistance, might not get it because she did.

Public hospitals are rife with an ideology that dictates that money is owed to the HIV positive. I find this attitude highly disturbing. Not in the least so because it removes all responsibility from the careless (read irresponsible) individual that decided not to wear a condom, or ask their boyfriend to or enquire about their partner’s status. Now I know that not all HIV-positive patients are in that situation because of a personal fault so let’s excuse those patients from what I’m sure you will see as a judgement on my part. I have seen, in the past nine months as an intern, far too many young and educated people who turn a blind eye when it comes to the issue of HIV. People who would rather ignore and wish away the reason for their massive weight loss or tuberculosis than be tested for HIV. Mothers who watch their child fall off the growth curve before they are persuaded to have an HIV test done. Teenagers who giggle when asked about their sexual history and number of partners.

Yes, this is judgement but can you honestly say that it is not well deserved?

The grant offered to HIV-positive patients by Sassa is a temporary disability grant. It is a monthly R1 010 and is dependent on criteria that include clinical staging, CD4 count, degree of disability, the financial situation of the household, number of dependants and many other factors. Unfortunately, many people have become aware of these criteria and attempt to manipulate them in order to qualify for a grant. So, it is not uncommon to see patients who are not so pleased when you show them their blood results and their CD4 count has risen. But this does not even come close to the issue of fraudulent CD4 counts. It takes a whole new breed of criminal to fake a CD4 count so he can sit at home and collect a monthly remuneration for his efforts.

On the other hand, the child support grant is a meagre R240 a month. An amount that barely covers diaper costs but is often used to support an entire household. Not to mention that a child support grant is now a reason to get pregnant. Is that desperation or idiocy, I can’t tell.

Sadiyya Sheik is a medical intern