The Eastern Cape health department has handed over state-of-the-art mobile clinics that will be operated in districts across the province.
The handover ceremony, attended by MEC Nomakhosazana Meth, took place at Mdantsane’s Cecilia Makiwane Hospital on Thursday
A total of 61 mobile clinics and 12 dental mobile vehicles are being deployed in all the province’s districts, with the aim of bringing primary health care closer to communities.
The mobile clinics are equipped with examination couches, BP machines, diagnostic sets, a fridge for keeping vaccines, an adult and children’s scale, water dispenser, oxygen, examination lamp and safe containers for medicines.
Crucially, mobile health facilities are able to operate off the electricity grid.
The customisation of the vehicles was done by SA Vans, a panel van conversion company specialising in purpose-built vehicles, in consultation with the health department.
SA Vans director Kholekile Ntsobi said the project took about four months to complete.
“Normally what we do with the department, the first vehicle that we build is a prototype which takes between three to five weeks and we bring in the technicians and nurses for approval [as] the end users and then we are given an order,” he said.
Ntsobi said the company produced between four to five vehicles a week.
“With the specific notice that they will work in rural areas we had to look at the type of vehicle that has 4x4 capabilities and will be able to withstand the conditions,” he said.
“We are quite aware that communities have been suffering to access the healthcare facilities based on distance and travel affordability.
“This project will assist by being nearer to communities and those that can’t be reached.
“They will assist with early detection [of illnesses] so that patients can be referred to where necessary.”
Meth said it was important to empower people with information so they knew first-hand what the government was doing to improve their lives.
“These new mobile clinics are part of the department’s efforts to ensure that our people have access to quality [healthcare] services.
“Primary health care is essential because, without it, our hospitals would be overwhelmed.
“People with minor ailments [will not have to] go to hospitals and spend long hours before being seen.”
She said the department was trying to ensure there was a clinic within a 5km radius, in line with national government policy.
“We must state that even when you have a clinic within a 5km radius, it is not always accessible because of the terrain of our roads.
“Communities are also expanding at an excessive rate. This puts more pressure on health care.
“Having a mobile clinic then comes in handy because we can service the greater community and get to those hard-to-reach areas.”
Meth said mobile clinics played a critical role in extending the department’s reach, ensuring that every citizen, regardless of where they lived, had access to quality healthcare services.
“We are operating at a time of load-shedding — something that is receiving responsiveness from our government — the mobile clinics and dental vehicles come with a converter battery inside in case of electrical outages.”
Meth said the rollout of mobile clinics and dental vehicles was “just one facet of our multipronged approach to healthcare delivery”.
DispatchLIVE
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