In an effort to curb the long walk to clinics, two siblings from the Netherlands, Ete and Rene Hartman, have donated a much-needed mobile clinic to the community of N’wadzeku-dzeku village outside Giyani.

The donation came after Dr Remco Peters, also from the Netherlands and currently the head of the Anova Health Institute in the area, realised the plight of the local people whom he encountered on the road, all on their way to the clinics. In one such case he saw a young girl walking to a far-off clinic.

"The girl was very, very sick,  which made me come up with an idea of looking for something that could give everybody access to health care without having to travel long distances," he said.

He said that he later worked out the idea and, fortunately enough, a funder came on board to donate a mobile clinic.

Meanwhile, Rene and Ete said that giving everybody access to primary health care was their main objective when they decided to donate the mobile clinic They added that they felt it was necessary that those who have should contribute something to those in need.

“We believe that if you lend a hand, you earn something in return and, coming from a foreign country, we know that primary health care is one of the main things that poor people here can think of and need,” Rene said.

A traditional leader in the village, Hosi N’wadzeku-dzeku, said that the community had been walking long distances to the two nearest clinics at Mphambo and Shivulani village. Both clinics are more than 10km away.

“We understand that this mobile clinic will work for other communities in the district as well, but the fact that it will be stationed in our village gives us relief. Most of the pregnant mothers previously had to struggle to find transport to take them to the nearest clinic at night. Now, with a mobile clinic, things will be different,” he said.

The mobile clinic is scheduled to provide in the most basic needs of the communities, such as testing for HIV, TB, checking blood samples for other diseases and many other things that would make going to the clinic unnecessary.

Receiving the keys for the mobile clinic, the district manager for HIV and AIDS services, Ms Josephina Mazibuko, said she was very glad that the Anova Health Institute was helping them by bringing primary health care to the people.

"The mobile clinic is also a relief to the department in terms of fulfilling the president’s initiative of getting everybody tested. I believe that, from now on, people will not live without knowing their status,” she said.