Nurse brings primary health care within reach of Dunoon residents
By Peter Luhanga
- Nurse Xoleka Kambi left her job to start Kambi Health Solutions (KHS), giving locals care without the long waits.
- Her two clinics offer baby jabs, pregnancy tests, wound care, HIV checks, vitamin drips, and skin treatments.
- Residents say the service is a welcome change from the overcrowded Dunoon Community Health Centre.
Patients often queue for hours at the Dunoon Community Health Centre, but still go home without receiving treatment. Complaints about overcrowding and poor service have persisted for years, with residents accusing staff of turning people away for not having appointments.
Amid the frustration, 36-year-old nurse Xoleka Kambi decided to take action. She left her job and used her savings to open Kambi Health Solutions (KHS), two small clinics offering affordable, patient-centred care for residents who can no longer rely solely on the public health system.
Her first branch, KHS Clinic, sits on Nelson Road opposite Kwa George Supermarket, where she and her team treat children and adults, provide family planning, pregnancy and HIV testing, wound care, and chronic disease management.
Her second facility, KHS Aesthetic Clinic, in Winning Way near Boxer, focuses on wellness services such as vitamin drips, fertility and immune boosters, and skin and dental treatments designed to help people feel and live better.
Kambi said she opened the first clinic in August last year to make healthcare more accessible for working families.
“People here work long hours in factories and salons. They cannot spend an entire day queuing at a clinic. My goal was to bring services closer and treat people with respect,” said Kambi.
Her clinics see about 20 patients a day, many arriving with back pain, infections, and untreated chronic illnesses.
“We try to keep the waiting time under an hour,” she said.
One of her regular patients, Thobeka Pikini, a mother of two, remembers when she lost her temper at the Dunoon Community Health Centre in 2017 after being treated harshly by a nurse, an incident that led to a community meeting with health officials.
“At KHS, it is different. When you have an appointment, they remind you. The prices are fair, and most of all, Nurse Kambi knows how to talk to people,” said Pikini.
Kambi said she hopes her clinics will ease the pressure on public health services and show that dignity and care can go together.
“Health care should not depend on how early you wake up to queue. It should depend on need,” she said.