Cape Town - For this year’s 67 minutes of charity work, Groote Schuur Hospital has announced the comeback of its Mandela Day Surgeries project after three years of having to put it on hold due to Covid-19.
This year the project will see about 300 to 350 people receive life-changing surgeries.
The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness, through a project driven by Groote Schuur Hospital partnering with Mediclinic, has once again dedicated its faculties, staff and much more just so they can provide life-changing surgeries to patients in need of various operations.
The project, initiated in 2017, started to help about 67 individuals. In 2018, for Mandela’s 100th birthday, their target sprang up to 100 and they ended up seeing 195 patients. Not knowing that it was going to be their last before the big break, in 2019 to commemorate 25 years of democracy, the project aimed to do 10 free life-changing procedures for every one year of democracy.
The target was to improve the lives of another 250 patients requiring cataract removals, orthopaedic surgery, ENT procedures and hip and knee replacement surgeries. More than 400 patients received various health procedures.
CEO of Groote Schuur, Dr Bhavna Patel, said the surgical procedures of the 350 people started in June and are aimed to be finished by the end of August. About 150 people with pregnancy prevention surgeries across eight hospitals will be beneficiaries of this initiative along with 170 for cataract surgeries.
Six people will receive hip and knee replacements. The procedures also include 19 general surgical procedures (for example, orchidopexies, herniotomies) and nine ENT procedures (such as adenoidectomies, tonsillectomies, grommets) and seven plastic surgery/ burns procedures.
After last year’s successful knee operation, Liam Dyason, 65, from Strandfontein, was emotional as he retold his story about before getting his knee surgery at Victoria Hospital. Dyason had suffered with knee problems since the early 1980s.
“For years I have done physical work and my knee was always a hindrance. When I retired I thought it would be a hindrance again because of the long walks.
“Since the surgery everything has almost got back to normal. Having to walk again was difficult at first, the physiotherapy and rehab session brought about pain in my knee, but now that I completed all those sessions I feel good about my knee.”
Rob Govender of Mediclinic said since 2018, Mediclinic had made a contribution of R10.5 million towards the surgical backlog. This year, in collaboration with Groote Schuur, Govender said the private sector has contributed R1.5m.