World arthritis day was celebrated on 12 October and World sight day on 14 October.  Stroke Awareness Week takes place at the end of October. With this focus on health matters, patients of government clinics should remember that they can collect their chronic medication from a convenient Post Office.

The service is aimed at patients who live or work closer to a post office than a Government clinic.  The main benefit of the service is longer service hours. Post Offices are open until 17:00 and Saturday mornings from 08:00 to 12:30.

The collection service is available at 342 post offices in all provinces except the Western Cape. These post offices were selected because they comply with the requirements of the Department of Health.  Medication that requires specialised storage, such as cold storage, cannot be collected from a Post Office.

Patients of government clinics who would like to collect their medication from their local post office, should arrange it with their clinic.  The Department of Health sends the patient an SMS when the medication is ready for collection and patients have 14 days to collect it before the medication is returned to the Department of Health.