Western Cape expands pick-up point for pills
A system piloted by the Western Cape health department allows patients to collect their chronic medicine at nearby venues so they don’t have to stand in queues for hours at hospitals and clinics
It’s a cold, grey Tuesday morning as Jonathan Thomas steps into the grounds of St Mary’s church in Woodstock, Cape Town. There’s a quiet bustle in a corner of the clean and airy church hall — not of worshippers, but of patients who have come to collect their prescription medicines. Thomas, a 52-year-old driver, is making a small detour on his way to work in an informal settlement in Langa, where he supervises a team of toilet cleaners. With his boss’s permission he has stopped off at the church to fetch his monthly supply of pills for high blood pressure and cholesterol. "I find this ideal. I am in and out in less than five minutes," he smiles. "Before, I had to wait at the Woodstock Hospital. It could take hours, depending on the [queues] there." Thomas is a beneficiary of the Western Cape health department’s pioneering chronic medicine dispensing programme, which offers patients an alternative to lining up for hours at public hospitals and clinics to get their regular monthly pres...
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