Tshemba, A new era of medical volunteering

“The initiative has its base in a purpose-built Volunteer Centre near Hoedspruit, and currently serves communities in Limpopo and Mpumulanga.

It is built around a rigorously managed healthcare delivery system, based on volunteer input augmenting local capacity through service, training and skills development”, stated Media relations officer Samantha Manclark. Founded in 2014 by Neil Tabatznik with Godfrey Phillips.

Now living in Canada, the leading initiative of Tshemba Foundation is equal health care in rural communities by offering medical professionals.“The inequality of healthcare between the urban and rural areas is so extreme that it was just not possible to turn a blind eye to it when I first witnessed it during a visit to the area,” explains Tabatznik.

“It was heartbreakingly clear to me that the disparity of treatment means that the difference between living and dying is based solely on where an individual lives.

To me, this is utterly unconscionable. Through the Tshemba Foundation we’re doing whatever we can, with our limited resources, to improve the quality of healthcare for the hundreds of thousands of the rural population that we serve”.

“Having been closely and then loosely associated with Tintswalo Hospital since 1979, I can truly say that this Volunteer Programme is the long sought for light at the end of a tunnel that has the potential to radically improve the quality of care on offer,” comments Professor John Gear.

“This is not because of poor doctoring locally but because those who have chosen to give their professional lives are strained to breaking point, are starved of outside input and support, and are frustrated by their inability to deliver the sort of service their patients hope for and expect.”Tshemba Volunteer Centre is situated in Moditlo Private Game Reserve, home to many of Africa’s rarest and most protected species.

The newly built Volunteer Centre provides a beautiful, tranquil base for volunteer medical professionals who come from across the world, and all corners of South Africa.

It provides a place where like-minded healthcare providers can relax after an intense day of work – to exchange ideas, create healthcare solutions for the challenges they might have experienced during their work and generally connect with peers from many different places. “Being on the ground in Hoedspruit, I am constantly reminded about the value of volunteering in the community in general – and for Tshemba specifically,” adds Phillips.

“There is a palpable skills- and for Tshemba specifically,” adds Phillips.

Shortage and people are so appreciative of others who are prepared to give up their time to enhance what they have.

This is a very special place with great needs.

I have no doubt that everyone who volunteers with Tshemba will leave with an enriched experience. I know I feel like that everyday.”Volunteers will work predominantly at Tintswalo Hospital – a Department of Health district hospital in Acornhoek which serves around 300 000 people, the majority of whom live in poverty.

“There are nine full time doctors currently working at the hospital, with approximately 50 vacant positions, the Tshemba Foundation volunteers are going to make a huge a difference by filling the gap by providing uncompromised medical assistance”, Dr David Rogers, Tshemba Foundation Liaison at Tintswalo Hospital.

In a message to volunteers, Professor Gear added, “Volunteers joining the programme are likely to be taken aback at the lack of equipment, the crowded wards and Out Patient Department and the range of clinical challenges that confront them.

However, we are on hand to guide and support volunteers whenever needed.

Be passionate, be caring and you will make a difference.

Each small individual contribution will help us collectively to build a better, more caring system.

It is hoped that the sense of reward and satisfaction will make your volunteering experience thoroughly worthwhile and hopefully lead to follow-up visits in the future.”“From the moment I arrived at Tintswalo Hospital, I was overwhelmed by the tremendous need of the local community – making it both a very challenging and extremely rewarding place to work,” said Dr Kathleen Meyer, a UK-based doctor who spent 12 weeks volunteering in 2017.

“After a busy day, returning home to the Volunteer Centre makes the stress of the day fade away.Medical practitioners can find out more by visiting the Tshemba Foundation website at www.tshembafoundation.org or by emailing Tshemba’s Medical Recruitment Officer Barbara McGorian on barbara@tshembafoundation.org.