On November 4, 2019, Imperial Logistics (Imperial), a leading international supply chain and logistics company, together with their enterprise development partner, Unjani Clinics, celebrated their millionth patient engagement at the newly opened Imperial funded Unjani Clinic in Mamelodi. This milestone marks not only the effective delivery of affordable, primary healthcare services through 1 million patient engagements to communities in need, but also reiterates the continued support and development of South Africa’s healthcare system, providers and carers.
“As a pioneer of the Unjani Clinic initiative, having funded the first 25 clinics and continued support of the initiative over the past five years, Imperial is proud to witness this milestone. It substantiates our commitment to impactful and sustainable CSI initiatives that support government objectives focused on healthcare accessibility, job creation and entrepreneurship, as well as amplifying the success of the Unjani Clinic initiative,” said Mohammed Akoojee, CEO at Imperial
The Unjani Clinic network is centred on an enterprise development model with the aim of empowering black female, professional nurses to operate and own a primary healthcare container clinic in South Africa’s townships and rural communities. It is founded on an owner-operator model and ensures an affordable, quality primary healthcare service and the supply of quality medicines to South Africa’s rural communities.
There are over 66 Unjani Clinics currently operational within the network in eigth provinces, with in excess of 70 nurses empowered under the programme and 230 permanent jobs having been created through this initiative.
“This year has been a remarkable one for us where not only have we witnessed our millionth patient engagement but we have also had our first four nurses graduate our five-year enterprise development programme, giving them title ownership of their clinics,” said Lynda Toussaint, CEO at Unjani Clinics NPC.
“With the support of Imperial – whose funded clinics deliver 70 per cent of the patient engagements – hundreds of thousands of South African lives have been improved. In addition, the nursing profession has been elevated and hundreds of permanent jobs have been created in our township communities. The Unjani Clinic Network, which is a bold, disruptive healthcare model, would never have come this far without Imperial and for this we are eternally grateful!”
To date, Imperial has contributed in excess of R36 million and supported 31 nurses and communities as a result. The Unjani Clinic in Mamelodi is the most recently supported Imperial clinic.
The Unjani network is looking to grow substantially over the next year, with an aim of 100 operational clinics by the end of 2020 and ensuring that the clinics are nationally representative of the South African population. Furthermore, it is expected that another eight nurses will graduate under the programme.
“As a proud Unjani supporter, we look forward to the next million patient engagements and the continued growth and success of the Unjani Clinic network – a key pillar to the South African healthcare agenda – and wish all nurses and owners every success in the year to come. Thank you for being part of this innovative journey,” said Akoojee.
