About 420 000 South Africans can benefit from the medical services offered by the Phelophepa Health Train, subsidised by Transnet Foundation.
There are two trains, which cover the eight provinces, and cater to poor communities of the country who do not have access to good health services.
The Phelophepa Health Train journey takes 38 weeks providing good health to South Africans which kicked off in KwaZulu Natal on 23 January and will end in the North West province on 20 October 2023.
Shamona Kandia, Head of Health Portfolio at Transnet Foundation said: The core market is impoverished communities along the rail corridor of South Africa, where health services are a challenge for the government alone to provide”.
Kandia added: “We undertake a wider stakeholder consultation process to determine the areas targeted.
She continued that the stakeholders include government, civil society, and internal Transnet stakeholders.
Kandia pointed out that each train has a total staff of 23 members, from both Health and Humanities professionals as well as support and logistics staff.
However, wherever we go, we also supplement this with 70 local workers from communities where the train visits as well as an additional 37 final year students from training institutions across the country, said Kandia.
Kandia pointed out that historically Gauteng province communities did not enjoy the health benefits offered by the Phelophepa train due to rail logistics.
“But we are introducing a services pilot in Gauteng this October, if the pilot is effective, Phelophepa will expand to Gauteng from next year, revealed Kandia.
Some of the services offered by the Phelophepa train cost less than R50 or are free.