Train of mercy pulls in for SA's poorest

Hundreds of people waited on the train station platform in the Mpumalanga town of Balfour yesterday, waiting for medical treatment the public service strike has denied them.

The throngs of poor and ill people were waiting for the doctors, optometrists and dentists working out of carriages of Transnet's Phelophepa Healthcare Train. They said all the clinics in Balfour were shut as a result of the strike.

Phelophepa's health clinic manager, Etheline Mgoli, said that her 18 permanent staff, who live on the train in their own tiny compartments, and 39 students placed on two-week rotations, felt the pressure when the strike began three weeks ago.

"Last week was extremely busy. We had to treat chronic and critical patients at the same time," she said.

Mgoli had to stabilise a pregnant woman who arrived, about to give birth, as well as a diabetic in critical condition.

One of the train's 18 carriages was turned into a pharmacy that dispenses medicine for R5. Another carriage now has three refraction rooms where optometry students conduct free eye tests and make up spectacles for R30.

In a tent set up on the platform, nurses provide free pap smears and prostrate screens.

Balfour resident Papi Mbhele, 21, has never taken a train before, but spent most of yesterday waiting outside the dentists' carriage.

"This train is helping a lot, especially with the strikes because now the clinics are closed this is the only one we can come to," he said.

The strike has also meant the cancellation of the train's school-awareness programme, in which students teach basic healthcare in primary and high schools.

The train's founder, Dr Lynette Coetzee, said she was concerned about the safety of her staff. But, she said, "very angry" people had told her, "This train, we will not touch."

The train has been running for 16 years, and has treated 600000 patients since it began in 1994.

Another carriage is dedicated to psychological counselling.

The mobile clinic has spent the past week at the derelict station while on its trip around the country.

The train officially launched a new carriage yesterday, which is kitted out with a heart rate monitor and defibrillator, which was put to use last week as critical patients arrived in need of care.