The partnership between Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Unjani Clinics officially handed over a facility to Sister Khosi Magaqa, Unjani Clinic Head Nurse from Monsterlus to bring much-needed affordable healthcare services to thousands of residents of Monsterlus in Limpopo.
The clinic hand over held at Unjani Clinic Lufhereng in Soweto saw an elated Magaqa also walking away with a monetary donation of R48 000 towards furthering her studies and continuing to do what she loves- serving her community back at her hometown.
Earlier this year, Cluster Head for South East and West Africa at Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Colin Tyrer embarked on a Cape Epic mountain bike race to raise funds for an Unjani Clinic nurse from one of the Bayer sponsored clinics.
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In his speech, Tyrer said the handover was evident to Bayer’s commitment to empower women and promote the health of communities around South Africa.
“This ongoing partnership shows the commitment to transformation and collective contribution to sustainable communities and livelihoods.
“Bayer is proud to partner with such an innovative network, helping with a solution to bring quality, reliable, and affordable healthcare directly to communities across South Africa,” said Tyrer.
Sister Khosi was selected as the deserving candidate for the funding following her conditional acceptance by the University of Johannesburg toward her enrolment for a two year programme in Primary Healthcare (PHC) which will be her second qualification, required by the health council in order to own a clinic.
“This clinic currently helps hundreds of Monsterlus residents. It’s a low-income community and it will be of great help.
These funds are going towards my studies so I can uplift my community and improve the overall health quality and bring holistic care to our people back home.
“We operate where tough socioeconomic challenges are prevalent and these health services have made a great difference to what we found when we started in 2021. The main reason is to help our communities,” said Magaqa.
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Lynda Toussaint, Chief Executive Officer of Unjani Clinics said the clinic and the funds raised through donations by Bayer staff and stakeholders will go a long way in ensuring a major difference in the way South Africans access healthcare.
To date, of the growing number of Unjani Clinics across South Africa which stands currently at 185 facilities, a total of 16 clinics have been sponsored by Bayer South East Africa.
“The Unjani Clinics Network empowers professional nurses to provide access to quality, affordable primary healthcare, while at the same time equipping them to operate and ultimately own container clinics in low income and rural communities.
“Not only is Unjani Clinics NPC an investment in the socio-economic welfare of our country, but it is also an investment in people – providing the skills and tools for women to empower themselves and to empower their communities,” Toussaint said.