Several Mamelodi residents have expressed dissatisfaction regarding Transnet’s Phelo-Phepha health initiative.
This initiative entails using old train carriages to provide health care to various residents of South Africa on a rotational basis and this week is the turn of Mamelodi residents to benefit from the health services offered there.
The Mamelodi leg of this initiative was supposed to start on Monday but it only got on track on Wednesday at the Eerstefabrieke train station in Mamelodi East.
Helen Khumalo who lives at the nearby Eerstefabrieke houses next to the station, told Tshwane Talks that she is appealed by the fact that people from outside Mamelodi as well as foreigners were allowed to seek help at this initiative, thus making it impossible for local residents to access medical help.
“I came here at around 5am but we found that people from outside Mamelodi were already ahead of us in the queue and many of the residents of Mamelodi had to return home without being given medical attention as the quota for the day had been reached,” she said.
Stoffel Molatjane from Section 17 in Mamelodi East decried the fact that though he arrived at the Phelo-Phepha premises at around 6.30 am, he was cut off the queue and told to return on Thursday.
“I have a breathing problem and I think I am suffering from asthma but I have been turned away nevertheless and people living outside Mamelodi are the ones who have been given medical help,” lamented Molatjane.
“Bringing this health initiative for two weeks only is not enough as there are large numbers of people who seek medical care in Mamelodi and can’t access such care at local clinics and hospitals due to overcrowding,” said Thabo Mahloele from Mamelodi.
He suggested that school children attending this health facilities must be given preference ahead of all patients so that they can go back to school immediately after receiving health treatment.
Mahloele also suggested that unemployed youths must be employed in the initiative so as to add man-power and unburden the workload from the staff working in the Phelo-Phepha project.
“More train carriages must be added to this initiative and there are lots of train carriages that lie idle at Park Station in Johannesburg and I believe such train carriages must be added to this Phelo-Phepha project,” he said.
Another suggestion raised by Mahloele is that many rooms in the City of Tshwane Municipality offices in Mamelodi (Mini Munitoria) are presently not used at all and that such rooms should be turned into 24 hour clinics.
Dorah Kekana complained that she arrived at 4am and was told that the quota of 130 people for eye treatment had already been reached and she was therefore compelled to get medical checkup for other ailments which she had not come to the centre for.
“People slept over at the train station and those coming in the early hours of the morning found out that they won’t be given medical treatment,” she said.
She suggested that the management of the Phelo-Phepha initiative must make it a rule that every one who has arrived at the train station gets treatment.
One of the people who were turned away without receiving the care that they needed was Basetsana Manamela of Mamelodi, who told Tshwane Talks that she was disgusted by the fact that the so-called “130 people” quota in the eye treatment section was reached at 3am; a time when many people are still asleep.
“Let every region have its own special day to avoid a situation whereby people come from outside Mamelodi and make it impossible for locals to get help,” she said.
“This initiative is a waste of time because it does not serve the people of Mamelodi but serves outsiders and though this idea is good, in practical terms it is unworkable because 80% of the patience who are here are from far-flung places like Hammanskraal and the question is where should the people of Mamelodi go to access medical help?” she asked rhetorically.
“The Phelo-Phepha initiative is not only limited to people of Ward 28 around the Eerstefabrieke train station but includes the entire community of Mamelodi and all regions and communities in Tshwane,” said MMC for Health in the City of Tshwane Tshegofatso Mashabela.
She said the Phelo-Phepha health initiative is one of the best initiatives in health care as it offers services like general health treatment, surgical treatment, cancer screening, ante natal care, as well as eye and dental care.
She said the time period that the Phelo-Phepha health initiative will be spending in Mamelodi will alleviate overcrowding at local clinics and hospitals.