The Project Flamingo team recently went to the Buffalo City Metro’s Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane to close the breast cancer care gap by performing life-changing operations for patients in need.
Founded in 2010 by breast and endocrine surgeon Doctor Liana Roodt, Project Flamingo is an NGO that gives newly diagnosed cancer patients a chance to survive the disease by raising funds and awareness to achieve timely surgery for them. Since its inception, thousands of breast cancer patients have received surgical care ahead of their state-scheduled slots. Because South Africa’s state healthcare system is overwhelmed, newly diagnosed breast cancer patients sometimes wait longer than 14 weeks for surgical intervention.
This project’s catch-up surgery programme is conducted once a month on a Saturday when the theatre spaces are not in use. A team of surgeons and anaesthetists volunteer their time and expertise performing these critical surgeries that would, in private healthcare, cost a patient anything between R40,000 to R100,000 depending on the surgery they are having done. The programme is active across five public hospitals in the Western and Eastern Cape.
“The work Project Flamingo does to overcome the obstacles that we face in state healthcare is very inspiring. We can all be change-makers, even when faced with difficulties in caring for our patients,” said Cecilia Makiwane Hospital Doctor Carl-Adriaan Hugo, who has been with the project for almost two years now. Dr Hugo, who joined the team initially as a volunteer and then as a volunteer coordinator for East London, says the project still amazes him with every surgical list they complete.
The project, however, still needs to pay for consumables and compensate the theatre nursing staff at each of the hospitals. To support the cause and find out more, please visit the Project Flamingo website: www.projectflamingo.co.za
