Tshwane mobile testing clinic boosts health sector Covid-19 testing programme

Mobile free Covid-19 testing clinics have been instrumental in the Tshwane metro’s fight against the virus.

Over the past year, many Tshwane residents have made use of such clinics situated in popular places like shopping malls to offer health services closer to communities.

The strategy of offering free testing mobile clinics at shopping centres was convenient for many shying away from lengthy queues at clinics.

In August 2020, the Tshwane metro embarked on offering testing services at shopping centres using a mobile clinic that rotated in different areas of the region particularly in areas with high infections.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the mobile clinic also became key during the peak of the pandemic as some community members viewed health facilities as high risk of contracting the virus and preferred to not queue at health facilities and utilised the mobile service.

Mashigo said although the mobile clinic was not initially planned for Covid-related services, but due to the high demand for free tests late last year it was dedicated to the service to also offer support to clinics.

“The demand for tests for community members who could not afford tests or did not have access to testing sites, was so big, that the health department management decided to redirect the mobile unit to support the Covid-19 health response in the region,” he said.

Overall community response since the programme was introduced, Mashigo said they received positive feedback, especially from those that could not afford to pay R850 for a test during very tough economic times.

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“During periods where cases are high in Gauteng and Tshwane and community members are anxious to get tested, the demand increases. The demand was particularly high during July 2021 – this was also the period where more than 400 tests were conducted per day at certain sites.”

Mashigo said the programme also faced challenges of not having enough test kits at the beginning, however, he said they since adapted and learned to plan better as the services were of demand.

“During periods of high case numbers, it is extremely important to identify positive cases and get them isolated to limit the spread of the disease as far as possible. The response was very good and community members travelled from across the city to attend the available services on weekends.”

He said the metro aimed to run the programme until 70% of community members would be vaccinated and the threat of Covid-19 outbreaks has been reduced.

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According to metro stats, 4 506 people tested for Covid in June.

In July, 2 362 tested for Covid.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, 250 391 people in Tshwane tested positive for Covid-19.

The mobile does not only test for Covid-19 but for HIV, TB, blood pressure and blood sugar.

Mashigo said they identified that the risk of HIV positive community members that were not on treatment, with a low immunity also increased.

“It is important that community members know their HIV status, to enable them to start on treatment as early as possible. We targeted all lifestyle diseases with education and screening as part of the ward-based plan. Community members that have lifestyle diseases like for example high blood pressure and diabetes are at risk of being affected severely by Covid.”

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