Mogul Medical Solutions founded by managing director, Menelisi Moyo, is an inspiring enterprise and, arguably, one of a kind in Africa.
“Ours is an exciting, unique and innovative medical supplies service. ‘Why?’ you may ask. Because we’re the first, and therefore the only service provider across the continent that has a fully functional online purchase portal with over 8 000 lines on offer. We are also the only medical company with an online store on Facebook in Africa. We distribute across the whole sub-continent,” Moyo explained.
He added that Mogul Medical is a certified M.I.B. body builder, which means that it is certified to build bodies on any truck, and can also build trailers through its new Engineering Division, which builds all the company’s mobile clinics and ambulances.
This is where FAW trucks and FAW Vehicle Manufacturers SA add to the equation with its reliable and durable chassis cabs, which in turn, provide good value-for-money and easy operation, as well as committed service, maintenance and parts supply from the company.
“We make use of the FAW truck brand because it adds to our efficiencies and helps us contain our costs superbly,” said Moyo.
“Our business is of such a critical nature, if you consider that it is a crucial supply service, and the fact that good corporate governance is demanded by our clients. We just had to choose the best trucks in terms of reliability and cost efficiency,” he added.
Mogul’s Medical’s service is far-reaching, covering the widest range of products from day-to-day consumable items, like surgical gloves, to specialist items like wheelchairs.
Customers include individuals, clinics and hospitals.
“Amongst partnership clients you can count major international donor organisations like USAID, Pepfar, UK Aid, while destination countries for our products include countries like Ethiopia, Madagascar, Botswana, Zambia, and Rwanda – wherever there is a need for medical supply shipments to be moved either in a crisis or on a routine basis,” Moyo expounded.
In South Africa, one of the largest clients of Mogul’s efficient and cost-effective services is the SA Government and the Department of Health.
All the hospitals and brick-and-mortar clinics in the Western Cape are sourcing medical supplies through Mogul Medical Solutions.
FAW and Mogul to the rescue
Two new mobile clinics, built on the recently introduced FAW 8.140 FL truck chassis, have been commissioned into service.
“These units were selected because the trucks can comfortably travel long distances from their base stations in the Western Cape to rural areas in the Eastern Cape and up to Clanwilliam. Our mobile clinics are also specifically equipped to provide circumcision services to rural communities,” Moyo explained.
“We ran other truck brands but have decided to standardise on FAW trucks because of its affordable offering, good quality levels and superb performance from an operating-cost perspective. Aesthetically the trucks are also good-looking, as well as robust,” he added.
Mogul Medical, together with TB HIV Association, also provides routine services to disadvantaged communities, and the national prison network for a variety of services, amongst others – a mobile X-ray testing facility.
“It is especially our Mobile X-ray Facility, also built on the FAW 8.140 FL chassis, of which I’m most proud,” said Moyo.
“The truck had to have a particularly strong chassis frame to carry the extra weight as the entire body is lead-lined. Over and above this, the drivetrain had to be powerful and efficient. It had to be of a high quality with superior durability to drive the unit efficiently en route to its destinations,” he added.
The FAW 8.140 FL is powered by the Euro III Cummins ISF 3,8 litre engine, delivering a healthy torque at 450Nm between 1 200 and 2 200 rpm, with a solid output of 105kW on tap at 2 600 rpm.
This high-pressure, common rail four-cylinder in-line engine is one of the latest from Cummins’ reputable engine range and is ideally suited to the medium-weight truck category. The engine is fitted with a turbocharger and is water-cooled and intercooled.
Its transmission is a six-speed synchromesh manual ZF 6 S 500 TO Ecolite, which is a great match that takes full advantage of the Cummins powerhouse while adding easy driveability and full driver control.
“The braking system is exceptional too. This was also on our ‘demand’ list. The last thing from a reputation risk point-of-view, was that one of our units be involved in a collision and as a result be deemed to be unsafe,” emphasised Moyo.
He noted that the addition of ABS and an air-cut parking brake, on a medium-sized truck is invaluable to the safety of driver, truck and payload.
“Furthermore, we have enjoyed guaranteed back-up service and routine maintenance, as well as parts supply in this critical mobile service provision, by the FAW team,” Moyo said.
The company aims to provide several NGOs with at least eight more mobile clinics, built on a FAW 8.140 FL chassis in the coming year.
Moreover, Mogul Medical Solutions is also looking into the specifications for a possible mobile, eight-bed hospital, to be deployed in major disaster circumstances.
“It is my dream to see many more of these types of healthcare services taken to the communities no matter where they are situated in the farthest reaches of our country,” concluded Moyo.
