SA’s Phelophepa train draws a crowd wherever it goes. The sound of the lumbering 19-car clinic-on-rails signals the arrival of badly needed free healthcare for thousands of South Africans as it tours the country. "When you arrive, people are always ready, there will be kids performing," said train manager Anna Mokwena, a nurse. At a stop this week in Pienaarsrivier, a town in Limpopo, dozens of elderly patients alongside women clutching children flocked to take advantage of the service. "We are so happy. I got two pairs of spectacles and now I’m going to see the doctor for a check-up," said Janette Rakgetse from nearby Hammanskraal. "I’ve saved a lot of money. We arrived at 5am to beat the queue. We are a group of grannies who organised ourselves to come here." The train clinic will spend a fortnight alongside Pienaarsrivier’s neat red-brick station, 55km north of Pretoria, before travelling 500km to Ladysmith. It will provide access to general medicine, dentistry, psychology servic...
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