The Phelophepa Health Care Train Clinic initiative has proven to be popular with residents of Mamelodi, Nellmapius and surrounding areas.
The initiative is a project of state-owned company Transnet and offers medical health services to various communities around South Africa using train coaches that are stationed at various railway stations.
This is a rotating project which moves from one community to another so as to cover as many places as possible in the country.
The initiative started way back in 2020 and was inspired by the dire need for medical health care services during Covid-19 days, whereby those needing health care services couldn’t access hospitals and clinics.
“We are working together with both the national, provincial and district health authorities on this initiative as we are not in competition with the normal government health facilities but are actually complementing them,” explained Bheki Mendula, who is the manager of the project.
According to Mendula, the mobile health care clinic is part of Transnet’s broader corporate social investment programme which aims at giving back to the community in various ways and Phelophepa Health Care Train Clinic is one of them.
He explained that the clinic offers many of the health services that one may access at clinics including screening for breast cancer, HIV testing, high blood pressure, eye care treatment, dental care and full body scan to check for any latent ailments that the patient might be unaware of.
“We also attend to emergency cases like injuries as a result of car accidents and violence and also have a pharmaceutical section whereby we dispense medication,” said Mendula.
He said the facility also serves as a learning institution for final year health care students from health education entities countrywide.
Mendula explained that the Phelophepa Health Care Train Clinic will be in Mamelodi for two weeks; having started operating at the local Eerstefabrieke railway station on 29 July and scheduled to cease operations on 9 August 2024 before moving to other areas in South Africa.
“We open every weekday from 6am excluding weekends and we only close our facilities after all patients who have come to seek help have received medical attention,” he said, explaining that every morning they issue a certain number of stickers to those who have arrived early at the clinic and once the said number has been reached patients arriving later than the allotted number will unfortunate have to be turned away or be allocated treatment in health categories that are not fully booked in any given day
“Those who are visiting clinics or hospitals for regular check-ups must continue to do so as we don’t involve ourselves in ailments that they are being treated for at those facilities but are helping them in treating ailments that they have not brought to the attention of hospital or clinic doctors, as well as ailments that they were not aware of in their bodies,” he said.
45-year-old Sonto Nhlapo told Tshwane Talks that she had come to the clinic for eye care treatment but since bookings were full in that category she opted to do screening for breast cancer and was happy about the way the health workers treated her.
“I am very pleased about the civil manner the staff workers treated me because at clinics and hospitals staff members there are impatient with us,” said elderly 88-year-old Mmabanna Msiza who told Tshwane Talks that she came to the clinic to do full body scan.
Yet another patient, 60-year-old Emily Mashaba told Tshwane Talks that she wished the Phelophepa initiative would be a permanent arrangement which could be accessed by residents daily as there is always overcrowding at clinics and hospitals and in most cases, patients have to be turned away without receding medical help that they need desperately.