Remote communities in KwaZulu‐Natal’s greater Inchanga area between Durban and Pietermaritzburg are set to benefit from greatly improved mobile clinic visits following the introduction of a R638 000 fully‐kitted vehicle to service this deeply rural area.
The new vehicle will be operated by the Islamic Medical Association to supplement its existing mobile clinic which was unable to cope with demand for healthcare services in an area almost devoid of clinics or access to public transport.
The welcome boost to the Association’s mobile healthcare activities came as a result of a donation by the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT).
Commenting on the donation, SAMCT Chairman, Mr Mahomed Shoaib Omar, said: “Making healthcare mobile and taking it to under‐serviced rurally‐based communities is most certainly the answer, but is a solution mired in tremendous challenges for non‐profit organisations, such as the Islamic Medical Association. The sheer numbers of people needing mobile health services have quickly outstripped the existing mobile clinic’s ability to deliver effective healthcare. A second vehicle was sorely needed to bolster the Association’s ability to meet demand by poor communities for health services.”
However, fully‐kitted mobile clinic vehicles are extremely specialised and, therefore, expensive.
Mr Omar said that for many healthcare is taken for granted, given the level of private ambulance and medical services in South Africa, but there exists a large segment of today’s society which does not have access to such services and facilities ‐ simply because private healthcare is unaffordable.
The Association, formed in 1974 and then called Lajnatul Attiba ‐ or The Doctors’ Committee ‐ and which became the Islamic Medical Association in 1979/80, is a body of Muslim healthcare professionals committed to delivering effective healthcare to South Africa’s disadvantaged and needy communities. It was born out of a group of young doctors’ recognition that apartheid had created a legacy of forgotten communities; communities who lived with a compromised public health service and inferior patient care.
Today, this organisation ‐ as with many others like it ‐ continues providing quality healthcare services to KwaZulu‐Natal’s disadvantaged, largely rural communities. Its membership now exceeds 1 000 health professionals.
Mr Omar added: “Providentially, we have among us individuals who not only care, but who are moved to act in the interests of those who are unable to help themselves. The Islamic Medical Association comprises just such individuals, giving of their time in extremely trying circumstances.” “We of the SAMCT, were, therefore, delighted to be able to make available to the Islamic Medical Association a vehicle, converted and kitted as a mobile clinic, the combined value of which is some R638 000,” Mr Omar said.
The SAMCT was created by Al Baraka Bank, Old Mutual and CII Holdings in 2008 and its establishment has enabled the provision of funding, services and other resources for the improvement of the lives of our deprived, poverty‐stricken and historically disadvantaged communities. It has delivered sizeable financial assistance solutions throughout the country, irrespective of race or religion, setting out to support needy organisations operating in four primary sectors, namely health, education, social development and poverty alleviation.
Mr Omar said of the donated vehicle: “It is hoped that by providing a second vehicle to service the Greater Inchanga area, the Islamic Medical Association’s dedicated teams will now be able to reach many more people, more often than was achievable in the past.”
ends .
Download the speeches of the trustees below:
A R638 000 Mobile Clinic, Puts Healthcare On The Road in the Inchanga Area Of Kwazulu‐Natal