Transnet in partnership with the Solidarity Fund recently handed over a mobile clinic to the department of health in KwaZulu-Natal. The aim of the Transnet Phelophepa health-care train is to boost Covid-19 screening and provide assistance in psychology, general health, dental and eye care, as well as a pharmacy.
The train is made up of 19 coaches, each about 20m long. Staff can see up 1,500 people a day in various cubicles, some with beds and others with chairs, where patients will be tested. Furthermore, the mobile service will also minimize the congestion levels at local clinics.
The clinic will provide health services in Phoenix, Empangeni, Ulundi, Pietermaritzburg and Ugu over the next two weeks. Dr Mathapelo Mashupu, Acting Train Manager, said the clinic will go around the province to render care to the neediest. “These are communities that are normally under-resourced and severely burdened with disease,” she said.
“Our response plan will be screening, with the help of nurses and medical personnel from the SANDF. We will ensure that every station we visit, we reach out to all the people to ensure that everybody knows their status on Covid-19,” added Mashupu.
KZN health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said the initiative is an indication of the government’s new approach to health care during the pandemic.“We have been correctly criticized that the moment we were hit with this pandemic it seemed as if we all believed that other illnesses did not exist anymore, therefore our focus was just on Covid-19 …Therefore, this train will be providing those services,” she said.
