Imtiaz Sooliman – Gift of the Givers Assisting community medical services

Two of the givers is back in those refire today to provide medical

care. The aid organization was in the small town earlier this year

when it noted the need for help. Today, they are providing a

diverse team to see to the medical needs of the people. Our reporter

Monique motlock has more on that story,

so we are still here in toast River, where gift of the givers

has been helping the residents, not only of toast river, but also

surrounding towns like Mikey spontane and lanesburg. We've

spoken to many of the residents, who say they were desperately

waiting for gift of the givers to come to their town, but today they

have the opportunity to be here. Today, you can hear where we are

right now. We are basically in the hub of the dentist city and the

the medical staff, where they have been doing extractions, they've

been taking people's vitals. And I'm joined here by two very

special people. I'm going to lead you to the introduction, sir, you

are a liar and professor, just tell your viewers who you are and

what brings you here today.

Hello. It's a pleasure to be here. My name is Rogan Eastman. I'm a

Professor of Neurology at critters care hospital, University of Cape

Town, and it's the first time I've been to give to the givers clinic

like this. It's really heartwarming all around me. There

are people working hard and lots of patience. There's screams and

shouts and a lot of enjoyment going on. And I'm joined by my

colleague here, Professor Lawrence Tucker,

hello, hello. Yes, so I'm also a neurologist and I'm we decided to

come out here to show our support and show the support that we have

as academics for the absolutely basic

work that the gift of the givers are doing fantastic work, and as

you can see by the spread of expertise that is here that

they're Providing a fantastic service to a community that

desperately needs it, and perhaps coming from the public health

sector. Obviously, what we see in our metros like City of Cape Town,

is a lot different to what we see in rural areas like those river

the need is great, as we heard from Doctor Suliman earlier,

because of what they saw in February, the influx of people

that arrived here for help, they decided to bring an even bigger

team, a more expanded team of specialists, from gynecologists to

optometrists. Do you find that the the need in rural communities can

be addressed adequately by by government or or is it a whole of

society approach? Is it more complex than just pumping doctors

into areas like this, pumping resources? Well, I think it's fair

to say the gift of the givers has shown that with passion and little

else, and the support of of the of the medical community and and and

our colleagues, a lot can be done. A huge amount can be done and and

in fact, what they are doing, quite clearly, is is, is showing

government that that it's quite possible to provide an excellent

service at not too much cost. You were talking about the difference

in the health service delivery in our cities and now our rural

areas, there is a difference that people in our cities who, of

course, do need care, but it's an order of magnitude worse in the in

these little towns where where there's been an exodus of medical

expertise over the years. So I think the main thing that that

that gift of given has shown us is that it can be done and it can

come quite easily. They came at the first time, as you said, and

identified problems. They serviced the community, and then they came

back having learnt what, what, what they needed to do. So with

optometrists and dentists this time in strong numbers, they're

making a huge impact. And of course, government can learn from

that professor. Last question to you,

when we're looking at the number of surgeries that people in rural

communities need, obviously, there have been some follow ups from

people who were here in February, they've now come back for more

ailments and seeking even more medical assistance. The need for

special specialist surgeries is also great. How do you think we

can best address issues like that? Where, where rural communities,

they simply don't have the means to go to those bigger cities,

those bigger towns, for much needed operations.

Yes, one important way ahead, as has been shown so well here today

is looking into the public private partnership.