| More than 200 people from poor
rural communities in the Eastern Cape are helped aboard
Transnet's Phelophepa train every day during its time
in this province. Its current visit to the Eastern Cape,
which is set to take place annually from next year, visits
36 locations and delivers medical help to thousands of
people who otherwise would not have access to the specialised
staff who live and work on the train. The train is staffed
by 55 persons including an optometrist, a pharmacist,
nurses, a counselling psychologist and a dentist. They
are accompanied by final year students from various training
Institutions who do their internships in various disciplines
aboard the train. Patients pay for the medical services,
but not much. Costs vary from about R 10 for dental services
to R 30 for a pair of spectacles, which are fitted and
ready within 45 minutes of their consultation. Medicines
are also dispensed from the train at affordable rates.
While the train is in the Eastern Cape, it is closely
associated with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
(NMMU), based in Port Elizabeth.
Professor Kotie Grove, Executive Director of the NMMU
Trust, explains NMMU's involvement with the train, "The
NMMU Trust was approached by the Transnet Foundation
and specifically, Dr. Lynette Coetzee (Transnet's driving
force behind the Phelophepa health train) to help them
to disseminate and share information to poor communities
of the Eastern Cape as to the services offered by this
mobile health unit. The Transnet Foundation saw the
NMMU, known as the people's university, as one of the
chosen universities to help reach these communities
so that they would know how to gain access to and help
from the train when it was in their area.
"This project fits in with the university's overall
vision of community engagement and so the Trust was
honoured to facilitate the relationship between the
university's Community Development Unit and the Phelophepa
Train. As a result of this arrangement, the poor communities
of the province were informed and ready for the train's
arrival. Moreover, student interns from the NMMU help
on the train with regards to delivering health care
services in their fields of expertise, while the train
is in the Eastern Cape."
Therese Boulle, the head of the Community Development
Unit at NMMU says, "Marketing the train to poor communities
firstly involved calling together stakeholders from
all communities the train would visit, forming a steering
committee, which then hired people from the local communities
to work on board the train while it was in there area.
These casual employees get paid. We also facilitate
school visits and workshops and arrange for volunteers
to help on board. We visit churches in the areas to
speak about the benefits of the train, hold meetings
in needy communities and distribute flyers. While the
train is stationed in one place, we employ the local
community to clean the area."
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