Hlokomela’s media and marketing manager M.J. du Preez said they applied for the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) from the Embassy of Japan in 2019.
The aim of the GGP programme is to assist non-profit organisations (NPO’s) and local authorities, by supporting small development projects which have a direct and immediate impact on the well-being of disadvantaged communities at the grassroots level.
“After being awarded the grant, the process started of procuring the mobile clinic and all the equipment that needed to be fitted in the vehicle.
“When the Covid-19 pandemic hit South Africa, the fabrication of the mobile clinic was delayed a bit due to government medical mobile units being prioritised,” said du Preez.
He said the mobile clinic was then completed at the beginning of September and arrived in Hoedspruit last weekend.
Du Preez told Herald that the donation will enable Hlokomela to provide better care to rural women most affected by HIV/Aids, which he said it was something ambassador Norio Maruyama, and the Japanese government is passionate about.
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He said although Hlokomela has quite a few clinics and satellite clinics situated all over the Kruger to Canyons biosphere area, they still had a difficulty of reaching many women in rural areas.
“During our outreaches, our nurses and medical staff sometimes had to do sensitive medical examinations in very difficult environments.
“For example we’ve done papsmears in local taverns, breast examination on the side of the road behind trees, or pelvic exams on the back seats of cars.
“With this new mobile clinic we can offer a quality service, with state of the art equipment in a clean and private environment that treats all our patients the dignity they deserve.”
Du Preez expressed how grateful Hlokomela was for the donations stressing that the nurses.
“Hlokomela are extremely grateful for this donation. Especially for our nurses, this was a beautiful day filled with so many emotions.
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“Our director, Christine du Preez has been trying since 1995 to get a mobile clinic for this area, but the high costs involved made it very difficult for an NGO like ourselves to afford something like this. Especially one filled with high quality equipment like this,” he said.
Du Preez said, “Hlokomela would like to express our sincerest gratitude to the people and the government of Japan for their generosity and support. We hope to make them proud with what we aim to achieve with this fantastic mobile clinic.”
Primary healthcare services are offered in the mobile clinic as well as counselling, testing and other services relating HIV/Aids and other chronic diseases.
“We also do screening and testing for Covid-19 at our main wellness center. In our women’s clinic we offer general women’s health care service but can also do 4D scans, breast ultrasounds, abdominal ultrasounds and papsmear. We would be able to offer all of these services in our new mobile clinic,” he said.
