GEORGE NEWS - Six patients received breast cancer surgery at George Hospital on Saturday 14 September as part of the hospital's ongoing partnership with Project Flamingo.

This follows six surgeries through Project Flamingo performed in the hospital on 13 July this year as part of a record attempt that included surgeries at a number of hospitals on the same day. A total of 30 surgeries was performed on the day.

Project Flamingo is an ongoing initiative - started 14 years ago - that provides catch-up breast cancer surgeries at five public hospitals in the Western and Eastern Cape in order to help more patients receive timely care. 

Collaborating volunteer surgeons and anaesthetists, together with nursing staff at the hospitals, perform these surgeries on selected Saturdays using existing hospital infrastructure.

The purpose is to address the urgent need for prompt cancer care in the public health sector, and to bring hope to patients in need that would otherwise have to wait extended periods for surgery. 

This helps reduce the backlog of patients waiting for life-saving treatment and also highlights the critical issue of breast cancer and the importance of early detection and treatment. 

According the founder of Project Flamingo, Dr Liana Roodt, patients could wait longer than 12 weeks for life-saving treatment after being diagnosed. 

"This affects their families, their communities, their livelihoods, their emotional well-being and mental health, and their overall survival rate," she says.

George Hospital CEO Janine Ehlers thanked all the role players involved in the successful day. 

"We would particularly like to thank our local private providers, Drs Mike Sunshine, Esme-Marie Louw and Ferdinant Ras. This was our first of hopefully many private public partnerships."

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