Staff Reporter
LADYSMITH– HAILED as the first such initiative in the world, South Africa’s healthcare-on-

wheels project is a globally-recognised African solution to African problems.

The concept sees public services enterprises partner to roll out services to rural populations that have

over the years struggled to secure quality healthcare.

Launched recently in Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natalthe partnership between Transnet’s Phelophepa

(which means good, clean health) health trains and Eskom’s new mobile health buses, Bophelong

(translating to life), will culminate in more than 12 million people accessing services in the coming

months.

Both mobile initiatives will collaborate on certain routes and stations. In those instances, when the

Phelophepha train is parked at a particular station, the Bophelong Mobile Clinic will then visit schools in

The surrounding areas to provide healthcare to school children.

This builds on the success of the two iconic, award-winning Phelophepa trains that have seen over 10

million South Africans in marginalised areas access health services since initiation in 1994.

The project has won an array of local and global awards, most prominently, the United Nations Public

Service Award in 2008.

According to the UN, it is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service.

“The outstanding achievement of this train has demonstrated excellence in serving public interests and

made a significant contribution towards the improvement of public administration in South Africa,” UN

stated.

Former United States President Bill Clinton has lauded the project for “delivering quality medical

services, education and outreach programs to the poorest of the poor in South Africa’s remote rural

areas” while Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has also described it as “a powerful force for healing,

change and development in the communities it touches.”

Such has been the success of the Phelophepha is also known as the “Train of Hope” or “Miracle Train.”

The four Bophelong buses, in which Eskom spends R16 million through its foundation year, have been

deployed across the rural areas in the country.

The mobile clinics travel to communities who have an urgent need for healthcare.

Dental care, eye care services, immunisations and general check-ups are conducted on the most

vulnerable members of the society including children.

The clinics were designed by the Eskom Foundation and encompasses a dental booth, equipped with all

necessary material to screen, polish, extract and do fillings on teeth, a primary healthcare consultation

room to carry out general health check-ups; nutritional assessments, hearing assessments, gross and

fine motor assessments, as well as immunisations and a visual care booth to assess their eye sight,

provide the necessary treatment and even spectacles where necessary.

These services are aimed at improving quality of life by delivering health services through state-of-the-

art mobile clinics, which visit schools, to communities in which Eskom operates.

Most of the over 40 health professionals steering the healthcare on wheels came through the training

pipeline while the rest had been absorbed by the broader healthcare industry.

“The latter fills us with great pride,” says Nonkululeko Sishi, Transnet Chief Human Resources Officer.

Such provinces as Free State, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, mostly rural, are among others

set to benefit. The clinics, officials said, travel to communities who have an urgent need for healthcare – which is often.

Other partners the Eskom Development Foundation has teamed up with are Departments of Health and

Basic Education in the respective provinces.

“In contributing to improving the quality of life in communities where Eskom operates, the Foundation

has supported a number of initiatives that improve the accessibility and quality of healthcare. Our

partnership with Transnet is the next milestone on our journey to ensuring all rural communities we

operate in have access to much-needed healthcare services,” says Cecil Ramonotsi, Acting Chief

Executive Officer of the Eskom Foundation.

Ramonotsi expressed the organisation’s commitment to partnerships focused on contributing

healthcare services where direly needed.

“These representative healthcare services will help us build healthier communities and ensure universal

access to basic healthcare is a reality,” he said.

Sishi hailed the dedication by the health professionals for the success of the Phelophepha.

“We have teams of dedicated professionals who spend up to six weeks on the mobile clinic away from

their families. Through their commitment, this

train has become known as the ytrain of hope. Other people are sleeping at

the station, in anticipation of world-class health when informed the train would be coming to their

area,” says Sishi.

Brian Molefe, Group Chief Executive of Eskom, said the challenges facing many of the communities the

company operated in were stark.

He believes the gains South Africa our healthcare system has made can be furthered by the Bophelong

mobile health service.

“Reaching the most vulnerable group in remote communities – the children – this service provides access to facilities they might otherwise struggle to reach. These preventative healthcare services will help us build healthier communities and ensure that universal access to basic healthcare services becomes a reality,” says Molefe.

Molefe has served as Chief Executive at both state entities.

Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises, Bulelani Magwanishe, welcomed the new partnership between

the two state entities as part of their corporate social investment (CSI) programes. “The provision of

healthcare should be anchored in partnerships between government, state-owned companies and key

stakeholders to ensure we provide meaningful and impactful healthcare services to the majority of

South Africans,” Magwanishe says.

He welcomed the fact children would mostly benefit from the Eskom Foundation’s initiatives to move its

mobile health clinics between schools.

“The mobile health facilities will improve access to primary healthcare and help ensure that no child

drops out of school because they cannot see or hear the educator in the classroom,” says Magwanishe.

While South Africa, plagued by persistent poverty and inequality, has come a long way towards

providing free health care to its 55 million people, there is still much room for improvement, particularly

in poverty-stricken rural areas where women and children are most vulnerable.

The rural population in South Africa is measured at about 36 percent of the total population.

KwaZulu-Natal Member of the Executive Committee for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, said while

government applauded Transnet and Eskom for partnering

to close this gap, there is a tendency among locals to wait until they are sick before they sought

checkups.

“We welcome this joint initiative because it is taking healthcare services to the people but it will only

work if people use it. We always encourage the public to get into the habit of getting a health screening at least

once a year. Diseases are easier and cheaper to treat and manage if

detected early,” says Dhlomo.

– CAJ News