On Saturday 30 November, the GTP and Cipla Foundation South Africa officially launched the Sha’p Left Healthcare hub, conveniently located next to the Bellville public transport interchange. We were honored to have @City of Cape Town’s Executive Mayor, Dan Plato present to formally open the centre. We welcomed the Mayor, City Councillors and other guests – especially Mandisa Swart and Ntombi Zitha, who are part of the team providing exceptional care for visitors to the center.
The celebration was to mark the arrival of a new model of accessible healthcare for people living and working in Bellville, made possible through this key partnership between the public and private sector.Visitors to the centre will be able to collect their chronic medications, have a healthcare consultation and even get their eyes tested. It is affordable, accessible healthcare for all.
CEO of The Greater Tygerberg Partnership, Warren Hewitt said:
The journey to this launch started over a year ago when David Grier showed me two clinics in other areas that I felt I had to bring this to Bellville and when David heard of the foot traffic in the area he was excited to make it happen here. This is the GTP’s first foray into this type of project and we will take forward many learnings for future projects with a strong team.
Herman Grobler, Chief Operations Officer at Cipla gave insights into the Sha’p Left model saying:
“The nurses surgery is what this hub is about. We give them these facilities as enterprise development, his results in it being sustainable and scalable with ownership. This centre is where people can climb off a taxi or bus receive healthcare treatment and continue their day.
Thank you for the GTP and Warren this hasn’t been a sprint but a marathon. It is the first hub in a high density area and we would love to replicate this at other commuter hubs.”
Sister Mandisa Swarts spoke of the impact of the hub saying:
“We are here to change the country and make healthcare accessible. Thank you to the Cipla Foundation and the GTP for making this possible.”
Ntombi Zitha from the eye care unit said: “We look forward to seeing more of you taking care your eyes and you seeing more Sha’p left centers”
Executive Mayor, Dan Plato spoke at the launch of his focus on Bellville saying: ”
We need to connect and uplift more businesses where it matters and this one definitely matters. This whole area needs a major upgrade and I am pushing for it.
I admire the beauty when I walk in here, this represents thinking out of the box and innovation. It represents bringing services to the people.
The state can’t do it alone. We need partners. That is why I support the GTP and businesses to make it happen.
Warren closed the event with thanks to Cipla, Herman, David Grier for his vision, thank you to the GTP team, Neil Basson, encouraging those attending to experience the GTP express and Bellville Zero with the GTP being committed to making Belville a better place.