Pretoria - Business and community stakeholders are commended for bringing health services to the doorstep of the Laudium community as recent data estimates that almost 110 000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in South Africa in 2020.
At the weekend the Laudium Cancer Care Group, in partnership with Pink Drive and Lancet Laboratories, hosted an outreach programme to assist women with the early detection of breast and cervical cancer.
The collaboration saw free pap-smear and breast examinations, and the community was educated on the types of cancers and how to treat them.
Laudium Cancer Care Group chairperson, Rashida Ebrahim, said the group had been in existence for 38 years as a support group for cancer patients and their families.
Ebrahim said the voluntary group hosted the annual drive to bring the costly services to the people as well as a get-together for cancer patients who had no social interaction as they were stuck in the routine of going to the hospital and back home.
Thanks to generous donations from the community the NGO had been able to hire a full-time nurse to visit patients daily to see to their needs, whether it be medication or equipment, Ebrahim said. “Early detection is the best defence against cancer, so we offer these services because cancer is a killer and people don’t generally take care of their health.
“We can only offer 25 mammograms due to certain health regulations, but the community is eager to get this done right on their doorstep. Today we had to turn people away.”
Antoinette Joubert, in charge of the Pink Drive NGO’s corporate wellness outreach programme, said the initiative started by the Laudium Cancer Care Group to bring health services to the doorstep of the community, was one they were extremely proud of.
Joubert said once a year the two organisations collaborated to bring the Pink Drive mobile unit to offer the community free mammograms, pap smears, and prostate-specific antigen screening for men over the age of 40.
“Breast cancer statistics currently show that each year younger women are being diagnosed with breast cancer, and that is very worrying.
“Thankfully younger people are more aware of breast cancer now, and more educated to know how to look for lumps in the breast, so we usually end up doing mammograms for women over the age of 40.”
Joubert said despite initiatives making it easier for communities by bringing services to their doorstep, it was equally important for people to be responsible for their own health.
“The main purpose of Pink Drive is to educate people … so there is no excuse not to look out for symptoms.”
Sandile Sihlaba, group chief marketing officer at Lancet Laboratories, said the collaboration with Pink Drive and other NGOs was significant to the private entity to provide awareness, education, and services.
Sihlaba said at their last drive in Limpopo, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla mentioned the importance of holding initiatives in the community as it allowed people to be proactive in terms of their healthcare.
“Most communities don’t have this type of exposure, access to facilities, or even the time to get to the local clinic; this is why we are eager to be part of these initiatives.”
As for the reluctance of men to get their health checked up, Sihlaba said it was particularly important to continue educating men on the benefits of knowing their health status. “In the drives we’ve done countrywide I’ve seen men are slowly opening up but we need to keep up the momentum.”
Pretoria News