South Africa: As we close the Mandela month celebration, Limpopo Health MEC has extended a message of gratitude to all healthcare workers who participated in the Rural Health Matters outreach project in honour of former President Mandela’s legacy.
Special words of appreciation go to those clinicians who volunteered their services during main activities on Mandela Day in Mankweng Tertiary & Academic Hospital. The team initially committed to operating on 67 children with different health challenges, of which 45 were in Mankweng hospital while the rest were from all other facilities. We are proud to announce that 75 children were operated across the province on that day.
Limpopo health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba further launch a week-long surgical backlog clearance in Sekhukhune district on the 23rd of July to mark the end of Mandela month under the banner Rural health matters project targeting 200 patients.
The team of medical and dental specialists was able to perform 270 operations in 7 days in the following disciplines.
* Ophthalmology – 87 cases
* Orthopaedics – 51 cases
* Paediatrics Surgery – 20 cases
* Radiology – 63 cases
* Maxillofacial – 12 cases
* Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – 4 cases
* General Surgery – 19 cases
* Gynaecology -14 cases.
Speaking from Canada, where she is attending the International Aids Conference, Health MEC Dr Ramathuba said, “We don’t have enough words to appreciate the good work by the team of clinicians who have volunteered their time to go spend the whole week at Sekhukhune District changing the lives of our people in honour of our icon, our late President, Nelson Mandela who once said, “what counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead”.
As we start women’s month, we are finalizing the Rural Health Matters outreach project that will benefit women who are facing health challenges. This will be done as we honour the class of 1956 who fought triple oppression and debunk the myths that the place of a woman is in the kitchen. Our female surgeons will be in the forefront demonstrating how good they are with a knife in the theatre compared to the narrative that we excel with it in in our kitchens.”
