MEET the healthcare workers behind free breast cancer surgeries. | SUPPLIED
TYGERBERG OFFERS FREE BREAST CANCER SURGERY Life-changing surgeries provided free of charge by incredible healthcare workers on weekends and holidays Vuyile Madwantsi BREAST cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide, affecting 1.7 million women each year. According to the National Cancer Registry (2017), one in every 26 women in South Africa is at risk of developing breast cancer. It is also responsible for 16% of cancer deaths. Project Flamingo is a nonprofit organisation that aims to reduce wait times for breast cancer patients who rely heavily on the public health system, by providing access to doctors, anaesthesiologists, and medical personnel. These life-changing surgeries are provided free of charge by these
healthcare workers on weekends and holidays to the recipients. Dr Liana Roodt is the founder, director and surgeon behind Project Flamingo, which was founded in 2010 and, to date, has seen over 700 surgeries successfully completed. “The Flamingo initiative is a huge passion of mine. It's a project I firmly believe in and consider myself extremely fortunate to be in charge of. “Our team is made up of very special people; everyone who has responded is a volunteer. No one is paid; they joined because they believe in the project and care deeply about patients and the South African healthcare system as a whole,” said Dr Roodt.
“This is a labour of love for all of us. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you work with like-minded people.” She said they recently expanded their services to East London where they performed surgeries at Cecilia Makhiwane Hospital. “This is a big achievement for us to offer our services in the Eastern Cape, after Livingstone Hospital in Gqeberha. We are carrying on with our list of patients in Tygerberg Hospital and Groote Schuur Hospital.” Heidi Geysler-Steyn, a recent addition to Project Flamingo who joined a year ago, applauded the reality that medicine involves so many incredibly outstanding
