POLOKWANE – The Phelophepa Health Train is on track for a visit to the city in July.
The Transnet Foundation’s two healthcare trains, Phelophepa I and II, are designed to provide comprehensive primary healthcare to communities in the country.
Phelophepa, which means “good, clean health”, is a unique mobile healthcare clinic that uses the existing rail network and travels to remote communities in South Africa, where dental, optometry, psychological and pharmaceutical services are offered.
With the assistance of Transnet, the Phelophepa train is returning to Polokwane to assist people, in rural areas especially, with various medical issues.
The eighteen coach trains, with twenty resident staff members, fondly known as the ‘miracle trains’, carry modern medical equipment on board.
The train will arrive in Polokwane on July 17 and will be in town until July 28.
Since its inception in 1994, and with more than 40 permanent staff and numerous volunteers, the train has become more than a mobile hospital. It also provides outreach and educational programmes and has reached more than 20 million people thus far, making it the world’s biggest mobile clinic.
It does not compete with or replace available health care services, instead it complements those services and aims to assist people who cannot afford health care and often experience barriers to access public health services.
