Thulisile Mapongwana
Transnet’s medical health train, Phelophepa II, will be spending the next two weeks in eQonce as it leaves East London’s Mount Ruth Station in Mdantsane.
Acting train manager, Dr Thabiso Manamela says the train served over 2000 patients within the week it was stationed there.
They were originally scheduled to be in East London for two weeks, however, Manamela said cable theft at one of their previous stops was the cause for delay.
“Cable theft is a common problem we face throughout the communities, and so when we arrived here on Thursday, we worked throughout the weekend with extended hours to make up for the time lost.”
Manamela says they beat their minimum target of 1500 patients and thanked the Buffalo City Municipality for hosting them and the Department of Health for their assistance.
Health Department spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, said they value their partnership with Phelophepa and welcomed their health services, which are mostly free or at a nominal cost.
Meanwhile, the health clinic manager, Phiwokuhle Mhlongo, who has eight years service aboard the train, said the healthcare system in the Eastern Cape is cause for concern.
“We have come here a few times and communities regard the train as a miracle train, with some patients leaving their houses to sleep at the station.”
She said the turnout of patients leads them to believe that people do not receive “proper or sufficient health care services” in the Eastern Cape. She questioned why people would sleep for up to five days outside a train waiting to be treated for symptoms health practitioners would consider as minor ailments.
Echoing the concerns of the South African Human Rights Commission, Mhlongo said they have also identified severe malnutrition as another concern in the province.
“We service people in squatter camps, like in Swartkops and East London, and refer them to local institutions.
"However, we always leave with the worry that the system seems to have already failed them".
She said a frequent complaint from patients was the issuing of painkillers, like Panado, by doctors for almost all ailments they presented with to their local healthcare facilities. “So we also have a suspicion that there is a shortage of medicine in the province.”
Meanwhile, Kupelo refuted the claims.
“We are not aware of medicine shortages, and where we do, those challenges those are dealt with.”
He says the department has done a turnaround in ensuring that patients get quality services, “we have improved clinics and drug availability, we have even changed the ordering system to ensure no facility goes without medicine.”
“We expect that our partners will submit the observations they made to the department so that we can engage and see where we can improve our service.”
He further said they cannot deny that there are gaps that need to be improved, but said that "sweeping generalisations" cannot be accepted at the same time.
As Phelophepa commemorates is 30th year in service, communities in Qonce are advised to use this opportunity, as the practitioners expect to start their operations on 19 February until 1 March, with the next station thereafter in Bloemfontein.
