Scalabrini Missionaries launches a healthcare centre

In honour of International Women’s Day, Scalabrini Missionaries launched a community healthcare centre for a women’s health awareness project at St Patrick La Rochelle on March 8.

Residents of La Rochelle and surrounding areas flocked to the informative launch, which was assisted by doctors and nurses from the Johannesburg south community who will be part of the full and part-time volunteers and workers to provide healthcare services to anyone in need, particularly migrants, refugees, and underprivileged South Africans.

Father Eduardo Gabriel, the project’s coordinator, said during the launch the project’s goal is to relieve pressure on the public sector.

“We have been planning this project for quite some time and we are overjoyed that it has finally come to fruition. The building we used was a school convent, and the nuns who ran it closed it down in the 1990s. The building was then used for bible training before being given to us to be used for training, skill development, and education. In the long run, we hope to expand our services to include men as well as children,” said Gabriel.

Nkuli Sibisi, one of the nurses, said: “The launch is primarily for migrants because they typically pay in our public clinics and hospitals and some are not attended to because they lack documentation. As a result, the project is attempting to fill a gap in our public healthcare system.

“Women die every two minutes during child labour or pregnancy and this is something that can be avoided. This is also for population control because when we build a woman, we build a nation,” said Sibisi.

Sibisi said she would like the youth to be present in such initiatives because it affects them greatly.

Doctor Bernard Uzabakiriho, a gynaecologist oncologist at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, University of the Witwatersrand, believes that launching it on Women’s Day is appropriate because the primary focus of their healthcare centre will initially be women’s health.

“Such projects are critical in collaborating with government initiatives to reduce disease burden through disease awareness, screening, testing, and treatment at the primary healthcare level. To close identified gaps in access to healthcare facilities, particularly among minority groups, while also providing service to the people.

“Comprehensive services will be provided, beginning with the prevention of cervical cancer through vaccination, screening, treatment and upward referral as needed. As we start, we intend to grow and add services such as an adolescent clinic, antenatal care clinic, postnatal care clinic and a component of mental health.”

Doctor Samantha Meyers, a professional nurse specialising in maternity healthcare, said she is excited that they are launching this pilot project to start with women’s health as their priority on this International Women’s Day.

“Many women are facing daily challenges to gain access to basic healthcare and this is where the clinic can come in and supply this service to women. This project is under the umbrella of the Scalabrini Missionaries. They are working in more than 34 countries in the world. In South Africa, they are working in Cape Town and Gauteng.”

Advocacy, skills development and awareness of integration and reconciliation are the focus areas for the Scalabrini Missionaries.

The Scalabrini Missionaries is a religious congregation which was started in 1887 by Bishop John Baptist Scalabrini. He saw the challenges that migrants were facing at the time. Today more than 100 years later, Scalabrini Missionaries is still assisting migrants to integrate themselves into society.