Relief as Phelophepa vaccinations clinic rolls into Soweto

After a brief scare the Phelophepa mobile clinic would be derailed from vaccinating the elderly in Dube, Soweto, the train managed to make it past all the cable thieves by hooking the essential services carriages to a diesel electric locomotive.

Despite hitting a few technical snags on its trip to Dube yesterday, community members were looking forward to receiving primary health care services.

The third wave has stretched local healthcare facilities thin, with many chronic patients reporting weeks of waiting to fill their prescriptions. The clinic is expected to serve 375 patients daily. Patients will be allowed onto the platform in a staggered manner, while adhering to Covid-19 protocols and regulations.

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Services are expected to include Covid vaccinations although Transnet’s partner in the imitative, Nemacare, has not confirmed any details on this except this service was in its planning stage.

The clinic’s operations were delayed yesterday, apparently due to a common occurrence: cable theft.

Avasha Gopaulsingh, managing director of Nemacare, the company running the clinic, says because cable theft was a regular occurrence on South Africa, it was difficult to predict when disaster would strike.

“The line to Dube was inspected on Thursday and all was in order,” Gopaulsingh said. “It is difficult to predict when cables will be stolen and it can occur within a short period of time at any time.”

The delay was also due to “minor IT problems” which have since been dealt with.

Dube resident EvelynKhubone, 69 was disappointed to find the clinic closed yesterday as she was hoping to be vaccinated for Covid-19. Khubone said the cable theft started last year when the country went into lockdown.

“I came here at around 7am and found a lot of security members and police. I hope it remains that way because we need this clinic,” she said.

Another resident, Bennet Mologadi, 62, has pinned her hopes on the clinic’s arrival as she has been struggling to fill her chronic medication prescription at local facilities.

“I came here for my pills. I have been moved from pillar to post because my weekly pills were not in Naledi and Mfolo and that is a huge convenience,” Mologadi said.

“I’m really happy to see the train has arrived and that they will be operating tomorrow because even though we pay for the medication, it is reasonable.”

Residents gearing to board the Phelophepa can expect primary healthcare services, including:

• Eye clinic: screening, testing and dispensing of spectacles according to need;
• Dental clinic: extraction, cleaning, polishing and filling of teeth;
• Health clinic: minor ailments, cancer and diabetes screening, testing and referrals;
• The department of health, Gauteng, offers an extension of services with tuberculosis, HIV and Aids testing, counselling and referrals through its partnership programme as well as Covid testing.
• Psychology clinic: counselling services to individuals and groups.

The clinics are supported by an onboard pharmacy. Minimum charges are applicable, including R30 for the issue of a pair of spectacles andR15 for dental treatment. The pharmacy charges R5 per script. The outreach services in the community include psychology counselling and information sharing at schools.