South Africa: Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba has thanked all the medical and dental specialists volunteers and all healthcare workers who were supporting them as they volunteered their services during the week long rural health matters campaign, which was held in the Vhembe District hospitals.
The Vhembe District Rural Health Matters outreach programme started with the Wound Care two-day workshop of which 77 healthcare professionals benefitted from the multidisciplinary and holistic approach to wound care management in acute and wounds and were able to conduct
436 operations commutatively in the space of 7 days under the following disciplines:
- Orthopedics = 29
- General Surgery = 31
- ENT = 34
- Paeds Surgery = 57
- Ophthalmology Surgery = 40
- Obstetrics & Gynaecology Surgery = 16
- Urology Surgery = 9
- Maxillofacial Surgery = 17
- Radiology = 203
- Grand Total = 436
Furthermore, Dr Phophi Ramathuba thanked all the hospital managers in the Vhembe District who made this programme possible and stated that the “2022 Rural Health Matters outreach programme was a resounding success wherein for this calendar year we managed to oparate 2358 patients mainly from the rural areas. To all our volunteer specialists and all health care workers, we are grateful to see your commitment to improving the lives of our people. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year and hope that you will come back strong in 2023 to change the lives of our people. Your service is always appreciated.”
People of Limpopo are very happy with the service of MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba and also requested MEC “Please, if possible then strengthen ophthalmologist and podiatrist services. Most of these conditions can be prevented if they’re diagnosed and managed earlier. We have a lot of patients with diabetes and hypertension who need early intervention to prevent complications that lead to surgery. If we can have them visit our community hospitals of CHC, maybe it can help close the tap instead of mopping the floor while failing to close the tap,” said Nkhensani Chabalala.
She further stated that most people with these conditions go blind, and most of them are being amputated.Â
She also requested MEC to strengthen the importance of PHC, which is not issuing Rx, but the most important function is to educate people to prevent such diseases.
Lastly, wished well done to the MEC Phophi Ramathuba and praise for the hard work she is doing in society and especially for the people of Limpopo.Â