South Africa: ‘Phelophepa’, a train hospital is delivering affordable healthcare for 375,000 people in rural areas. The major facilities include a general clinic, pharmacy, dentistry, eye tests and mental health services.
A passenger train has been transformed into a mobile health facility. It is a mobile clinic which travels throughout the South Africa for most of the year. It provides medical attention to sick, young and old, on its journey. Mostly the patients, who often struggle to receive the care they need at local clinics, which are crowded too.
The medical passenger train is known as ‘Phelophepa’ which means ‘good, clean and health’ in Sesotho language, and had been in operation for 30 years, ever since South Africa became independent of the former racist system of apartheid.
With their talented doctors, nurses and optometrists on board, the train passes through some of the most rural villages, where residents struggle to get proper and primary healthcare, because of overcrowded and under-resourced clinics.
The mission of Phelophepa train is to serve locals and provide a safety net for travellers as it ensures those who are visiting remote areas, and special access to basic healthcare services.
As per the sources, every year, the Phelophepa train treats around 375,000 people, and also offers free healthcare to them, in order to fulfil the commitment of South Africa’s overstretched public health care system. About 84% of people are dependent on this.
The best thing about Phelophepa is that this mobile clinic offers free treatment. Moreover, you will never find any long queues there.
They never face any medicine shortages and nurses are not rude at all, which is allegedly a pertinent challenge at the clinics that cater to patients in Tembisa, located in east of Johannesburg.
The health train is run by the Transnet Foundation. Transnet is a state-owned railway company and the mobile train is it’s social responsibility.
Initially, it was a single three-carriage operational train and has grown over the years to two, 16-carriage trains. It addresses the booming population of South Africa’s capital of Pretoria and nearby Johannesburg, which is the economic hub of the country.
Phelophepa began its services as an eye clinic in 1994, but then soon started offering treatment of other health ailments too. The health care reflects the deep inequality of the country at large.
Considerably, 16% of South Africans are covered by health insurance plans that are beyond the financial reach of many in a nation, recording the unemployment of over 32%.