The fully equipped Phelophepa Health Train, an initiative of the Transnet Foundation, will be stationed at the Swartkops Station until Valentine’s Day (February 14) to provide healthcare services to impoverished residents from Nelson Mandela Bay.
The first Phelophepa coach made its way to awaiting patients in rural South Africa in 1994 as a three-carriage eye clinic and the project grew to two custom-build eighteen-carriage trains equipped with modern medical equipment. Known as the miracle train, Phelophepa provides vision screening programmes, health, oral, dental care, screening for diabetes and cancer, psychological counseling services, basic health education awareness and community counseling workshops, amongst others, are provided on a daily basis.
Since the Phelophepa Train can only be in an area for a limited period, teams are sent out in the community to market the facility prior to entering an area with the intention to complement and support existing facilities.
The public is advised that services will be provided between 07:00 and 16:00 from Monday to Thursday, and from 07:30 to 12:00 on a Friday. The train is not open during weekends. The train rolled into Nelson Mandela Bay on Sunday (February 2) and is open to the public since yesterday (Monday, February 3).
The Phelophepa Health Train – the world’s first primary healthcare hospital on wheels – uses the existing rail network to make quality medical care an accessible reality for many of South Africa’s most remote communities.
NMB Communications
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