The Eastern Cape health department has set up tents where people can go for a number of free health tests, including testing for TB, diabetes, high blood pressure and HIV/Aids.
The Eastern Cape health department has set up tents where people can go for a number of free health tests, including testing for TB, diabetes, high blood pressure and HIV/Aids.
Erected at the Drostdy Arch on High Street and outside City Hall, the tents are part of an initiative to render better basic health services to the community at large. The department hopes to help people avoid long clinic and hospital queues by putting up tents in visible areas.
This initiative was first established last year to make primary health services more accessible and to identify health problems at an early stage, said provincial health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana.
"This is the start of an ongoing outreach programme to assist communities who are suffering from different ailments and diseases," Manana said.
“Apart from the tents different groups of healthcare workers will be conducting door-to-door visits to homes, ensuring that people receive the treatment they need right on their doorstep,” he said.
In addition to this, they plan to allocate nursing staff to assist people in designated areas to ensure that they receive health care and treatment on a permanent basis if required. A schools programme has also been introduced to detect diseases and provide treatment for children from an early age.
“Through this method preventing diseases and early treatment would not only save the government money in the long run, but would also ensure that children are leading healthy lives,” he added.
During the Festival, locals and visitors were very impressed with the tents. “Now I can enjoy the Festival and know my HIV-status at the same time instead of going to a clinic,” was the response of one Festival-goer last week.
The tent at the Drostdy Arch was only there for the duration of the Festival, but the one near City Hall is still active. Acting HIV/Aids director in the Bhisho area Samkelo Kwesaba said the response from the Festival community was good. “People of all ages including children as young as 12 years old visited the tents to have their health tested,” he said.
He added that the tent at the Arch will be made available again during the HIV/Aids Awareness Week to be held at Rhodes University later this month.
