Health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi handed over 50 mobile clinics to the Eastern Cape yesterday in a bid to boost health services.
The hand-over took place on the last of a two-day health summit at the East London International Convention Centre.
“This is a project I promised last financial year – 85 mobile clinics to eight districts,” said the MEC.
Dyantyi said farm and rural areas were given more vehicles than the urban areas in a bid to bring services closer to the people, especially in areas where there were no clinics, or where mobile clinics only went out into the communities once or twice a month.
“We invested a lot of money from the last financial year’s budget, close to R1-billion,” she said.
Dyantyi said these mobile clinics were as good as clinics, and some would be stationed at the same location within a community.
Of the 50 mobile clinics handed over yesterday, Amatole received five; Alfred Nzo seven; Buffalo City four; Chris Hani nine; Joe Gqabi five; Nelson Mandela Bay two; OR Tambo three; and Sarah Baartman five. Ten of the vehicles will be based at the office of the MEC in Bhisho.
Dyantyi said this financial year, her focus was on delivering close to 150 4x4 ambulances to rural communities.
Yesterday marked the end of the summit, themed: “Social determinants of health”.
Among the sponsors at the event was Vodacom ,which is exploring Information Communication Technology (ICT) avenues with the department.
Vuyani Jarana, chief officer of Vodacom business, said they believed strongly that technology would drive economic development, service delivery and how things were done in the future.
An example was Vula Mobile, which assists primary health workers access the information needed to carry out eye tests more efficiently; and hearScreen, which allows clinical hearing tests to be conducted via smartphones, saving patients and the health department both time and money. — vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
Mobile clinics roll out
The hand-over took place on the last of a two-day health summit at the East London International Convention Centre.
“This is a project I promised last financial year – 85 mobile clinics to eight districts,” said the MEC.
Dyantyi said farm and rural areas were given more vehicles than the urban areas in a bid to bring services closer to the people, especially in areas where there were no clinics, or where mobile clinics only went out into the communities once or twice a month.
“We invested a lot of money from the last financial year’s budget, close to R1-billion,” she said.
Dyantyi said these mobile clinics were as good as clinics, and some would be stationed at the same location within a community.
Of the 50 mobile clinics handed over yesterday, Amatole received five; Alfred Nzo seven; Buffalo City four; Chris Hani nine; Joe Gqabi five; Nelson Mandela Bay two; OR Tambo three; and Sarah Baartman five. Ten of the vehicles will be based at the office of the MEC in Bhisho.
Dyantyi said this financial year, her focus was on delivering close to 150 4x4 ambulances to rural communities.
Yesterday marked the end of the summit, themed: “Social determinants of health”.
Among the sponsors at the event was Vodacom ,which is exploring Information Communication Technology (ICT) avenues with the department.
Vuyani Jarana, chief officer of Vodacom business, said they believed strongly that technology would drive economic development, service delivery and how things were done in the future.
An example was Vula Mobile, which assists primary health workers access the information needed to carry out eye tests more efficiently; and hearScreen, which allows clinical hearing tests to be conducted via smartphones, saving patients and the health department both time and money. — vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
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