Unjani Clinic’s commitment to expanding access to quality, affordable healthcare

For many communities in South Africa, access to quality, affordable healthcare is extremely limited. Even if there is a government hospital or clinic in the area, barriers such as long wait times, expensive travel costs and the need to take a full day off work can prevent community members from getting the care they need.

The Unjani Clinic model is designed to provide an effective solution to these challenges. Our clinics are strategically located in underserved communities, offering quality healthcare services at affordable prices, while reducing the burden of travel costs and wait times for the patients. With a constantly expanding network of over 140 clinics nationwide, we are proud to be providing essential healthcare services to those who need it most.

An integral aspect of our model is the fact that the clinics are operated and ultimately owned by the nurses themselves, each of whom has a passion for caring for their communities. This not only empowers the nurses to grow professionally and take charge of their careers, but ensures that they are deeply invested in delivering the highest quality of empathetic care to each and every patient.

And while we are continually working to expand our network of clinics, we are determined to do everything we can to improve access to high-quality healthcare to all underserved communities across South Africa as soon as possible. Driven by this commitment, we have introduced an innovative initiative to achieve this goal: mobile Health Pods.

Equipped with everything required to look after the basic healthcare needs of the communities they serve, our Health Pods travel through underserved communities, dispensing crucial healthcare services at affordable prices to people who otherwise might not have access to primary healthcare and medication.

The donation of crucial transport assists Unjani Clinic in expanding access to quality, affordable healthcare

The Health Pods were designed to extend the services of an existing clinic to outlying rural areas, that would not commercially sustain a fixed Unjani Clinic. The generous donation of two vehicles has enabled two clinics in the Unjani Clinic Network, Empangeni and Mtubatuba, to do just that. With the right vehicle enabling their mobility, Health Pods can service an area of at least 25km, which in the case of Empangeni and Mtubatuba, have populations of 500,000 and 222,000, respectively. Thanks to this donation, more communities will have extended access to affordable, quality healthcare and resulting in improved health outcomes.

Inspired by our commitment to improving access to quality care, the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT) recently donated two Mahindra S6 bakkies to assist us in towing the Health Pods in Mtubatuba and Empangeni. The hardy, durable and ready-to-work Mahindra S6 is the ideal vehicle for the task, and should give us many long years of bringing quality, affordable healthcare to these underserved communities.

The SAMCT was founded in 2008 with the purpose of creating, marketing and distributing Shariah funds. Over the years, the organisation has supported many initiatives aimed at improving the lives of the vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged, irrespective of race or religion, and continues to work towards the upliftment of all South Africans.

We are honoured by the SAMCT’s belief in the value of the Unjani Clinic mission. SAMCT representative Gaff Osman stated, “This is a most laudable venture and compliments the re-engineering and strengthening of this country’s healthcare system through the creation of highly accessible community-based healthcare capacity where it is needed most. It is shifting primary healthcare tasks to professional nurses, thus ensuring more people have access to care and medication.”

“We of the SAMCT are proud and privileged to be associated with an organisation so dedicated to both the concept of taking healthcare to the people and promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship and employment creation through its owner-operator nursing concept,” he added.

Unjani Clinic is incredibly grateful to the SAMCT for this donation in support of the further expansion of access to quality, affordable healthcare for those who need it most, and we are already putting the vehicles to good use.