In a world where quality healthcare often comes at a steep price, one South African doctor is breaking barriers and offering hope to those in need.
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Dr Paulo de Valdoleiros, popularly known as the Walk-In Doctor, opened a groundbreaking clinic in Westdene, Bloemfontein, on 17 June 2019.
His unique ‘pay-what-you-can’ model shatters conventional approaches to medical fees, focusing instead on compassion, kindness, and the belief that healthcare should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial circumstances.
While Dr de Valdoleiros treats patients, he doesn’t know what they pay. They head out to the reception after treatment and pay what they can afford.
Based on the amount collected, he says the average payment is about R100. Small compared to what doctors charge in bigger cities such as Cape Town and Joburg.
‘There is no minimum fee here, people are really struggling and sometimes they can’t even afford R20 to see a doctor,’ he said.
Along with treating his patients’ physical ailments, he tries to support them emotionally, too. ‘My aim is not just to help with their pain but also to empower them to stand on their own two feet. Patient education is crucial. I spend a lot of time with patients, giving them guidelines relating to diet and other lifestyle pointers.’ he said on his website.
Originally hailing from Mozambique, Dr de Valdoleiros moved to South Africa at just 14 years old, driven by a lifelong dream to help others. However, the path to achieving that dream was not straightforward.
Coming from a family of limited means, he was unable to afford medical school right after completing high school and, instead, entered the workforce. It wasn’t until he was 46 that he finally managed to enrol at the University of the Free State, ultimately graduating at the age of 51.
In an additional pursuit of knowledge, he went on to study functional medicine, a specialised field not commonly taught in South Africa.
In 2019 he was accepted as a registrar to specialise in the chemical pathology department. Sadly, after 3 months, he realised that appropriate structure and foundations were missing. ‘There were a lot of flaws, and I wasn’t prepared to train myself.’
Instead, he hatched an idea to open a primary care practice where patients paid what they could afford and still received the treatment they needed.
‘The idea had been floating around in my head for a while, But I had shelved it many times because it never seemed like a logical idea to pursue,’ he explains.
He calls the notion a god idea because to him it doesn’t make human sense. But he always wanted to help others, and he knew that he could help more people if there wasn’t a price tag attached to his services. ‘The world is such a hostile place, and I just wanted to help as much as I could.’
Dr de Valdoleiros officially opened his primary care practice in June 2019. It was a slow start. Only one patient came to the practice the first day he opened. By the end of the week, he had seen just five.
Article shared by Cape Town ETC.
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Feature Image: Dr Paulo de Valdoleiros / Website
