Residents eagerly await the construction of Cosmo City’s first formal clinic.
Non-profit organisation Perfect Start Ministries started the first phase of its development of the Cosmo City Holistic Health and Wellness Centre, which has a proposed budget of R3.5 million.
The City of Johannesburg agreed to lease 20 079 sq m of land to the organisation for the next 10 years.
The first phase started at the end of last year, with the planting of vegetables for a garden.
“There is only one mobile [health] centre here,” said the organisation’s founder, Muzi Nkosi.
“It cannot accommodate everyone.”
Resident and volunteer Nompumelelo Abraham said, “This will be good because we don’t have a [formal] clinic here, There are too many people who are sick, children too.”
Four buildings will constitute a 24-hour clinic with doctors, pharmacists, nutritionists and a dentist. Medication and medical advice will be provided, while HIV testing and counselling will be available. There will also be a birthing unit, and Nozala Health Partners will conduct all kinds of surgeries, Nkosi added. He hopes that the government will subsidise the centre for medication and surgeries that patients cannot pay for.
Other buildings include a skills development centre, and a social centre where vulnerable children and the elderly can be counselled. There will be an early childhood development centre, and two sports fields: one for soccer and hockey, and another for netball and tennis. Nkosi hopes that the centre can provide vulnerable children with food, education, and develop their sports skills.
Volunteer George Abraham, says, “In this community people go as far as Helen Joseph [Hospital]. This will be very helpful.” According to Nkosi, the speed at which construction goes depends on government and private funding. One can donate R10 to the project by sending an SMS with the word ‘perfect’ to 48825.
Details: Perfect Start Ministries nkosijm@webmail.co.za or
084 238 8410.
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