The Cipla Foundation, in collaboration with the Greater Tygerberg Partnership, has launched a new community-based healthcare hub at the Bellville taxi rank situated in Capetown. The two organizations chose this site because it is at a transport node with incredibly high volumes of people passing through on their way to and from work.
The hub will also provide primary healthcare services, eye care and a chronic medicine pick-up point to passengers that pass through this area on a daily basis. The surgery will be managed by Mandisa Swart, a qualified nurse with more than 10 years’ experience who is a part of Cipla Foundation’s Sha’p Left initiative. Sha’p Left is a containerised healthcare solution developed by the Cipla Foundation.
CEO of Greater Tygerberg Partnership, Waren Hewitt highlighted that Bellville CBD is densely populated, with commuters making over 400,000 trips each day. He added that there are over 250 medical facilities in the area and the volume of people means that the existing healthcare facilities and clinics are already operating at capacity hence they wanted to introduce a new facility that could be rolled out quickly, and which could service the basic healthcare needs of a significant number of patients
The hub also offers a range of primary healthcare consultations as well as services such as family planning, woman’s health and basic disease management. “The convenient CDU allows patients on chronic medication to collect their medication at the hub while in transit to work or going home. The eye care facility has been established with the help of well-known optometrists who were looking for an opportunity to get involved in community initiatives, and we felt that it was a good fit to include this group in the Bellville project,” said Paul Miller, CEO of Cipla Medpro
Dan Plato, Executive Mayor of Cape Town said,”As a Caring City, the City of Cape Town recognises the right of every citizen to access health care when they need it. The Sha’p Left initiative complements the services already provided by city healthcare facilities. We welcome the contributions made by private companies and organisations who have assisted in this initiative in the Bellville CBD.”
