Wellness on Wheels Project
9 March 2007
The South African Police Service (SAPS) launched a ground breaking
initiative aimed at combating the spread of the HIV and AIDS scourge and
improving the general wellness of its members and their families when it
launched the Wellness on Wheels Project in Taung, North West, today.
The SAPS is the first government department to launch a Wellness on Wheels
Project, a mobile clinic, which is designed specifically to make wellness
services available to police officials and their families in rural areas.
The mobile clinic will be staffed by external private professional nurses
and doctors and will consist of medical equipment to test diseases such as HIV,
blood pressure and sugar diabetes. It will also render emergency assistance to
the members who have sustained injury while on duty. The SAPS took the
initiative of enlisting the services of external professional medical
practitioners to ensure the confidentiality of members' medical
information.
The primary objective of the wellness mobile clinic is to give a
comprehensive service to the SAPS employees and their families in the rural
areas, due to lack of sufficient facilities such as doctors and hospitals.
It is envisaged that the HIV and AIDS pandemic will affect every workplace
with prolonged staff illness, absenteeism and death; thus the SAPS management
took this bold initiative in the main to increase productivity in the
workplace, improve effective service delivery and to increase fitness and
health levels among police officials.
The National Commissioner of the SAPS, Jackie Selebi, encouraged police
officials at the launch in Taung today who have tested HIV positive to register
with the police's medical aid scheme, Polmed's disease management programme, to
ensure their unlimited budget in their medical account for treatment
purposes.
"I implore you if your test results are positive to register immediately
with Polmed's disease management programme to ensure that you don't run out of
funds for your treatment," Selebi said.
Selebi said in the next financial year four wellness mobile clinics will be
sent to the rural police stations in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Free
State. Another six will be sent to the remaining provinces in August this year.
It is expected that the launch of the mobile clinics in the outstanding
provinces will be held on World AIDS Day.
The launch was attended by hundreds of members and their families from in
and around the sprawling village of Taung.
Contact:
Selby Bokaba
Cell: 082 778 0245
Issued by: South African Police Service
9 March 2007
