In a remarkable display of medical expertise and team work, the Gauteng Health Department surpassed its Mandela Day Surgical Marathon target in Pretoria hospitals.
The initiative aims to make a positive impact on the lives of the patients in need.
This initiative is part of the department’s ongoing effort to provide accelerated access to essential care and improve the lives of patients in line with the 2024 Mandela Theme, “It is still in our hands to combat poverty and inequality through better health outcomes”.
The surgical marathon held on July 18, focused on various procedures that were performed including general surgeries, cataracts, plastics, mastectomy, arthroplasty and orthopaedic, among others.
The department had aimed to do 700 procedures across various hospitals, the facilities which performed the highest number of procedures include Kalafong Hospital with 59 surgeries, Mamelodi Hospital with 54 surgeries and Steve Biko Academic Hospital with 50 surgeries.
MEC for Health and Wellness Nomantu Ralehoko-Nkomo said in 2023 the department exceeded its target when it reached over 720 surgeries performed on Mandela Day.
“The work that we have done this year and the previous year on this surgical marathon proves that working together we can achieve more in our efforts to improve patient outcomes,” she said.
Ralehoko-Nkomo added that they will be continuing with surgical marathon throughout the year as a way of significantly reducing the normal waiting times.
The MEC highlighted the significance of this achievement, she said this initiative is a testament of their commitment to improve the lives of patients and honouring the legacy of Nelson Mandela.
“We are proud of our dedicated health care teams and the impact they have made,” she added.
She added that this is one of the major interventions which saw the introduction of the dashboard in 2023.
“This dashboard allows the project team to monitor and track the number of surgeries performed daily across all public hospitals in the province, this live system enhances transparency and accountability enabling us to make informed and improve performance,’ she said.
Nkomo-Ralehoko further said, they have taken proactive steps to ensure that facilities that previously could not perform surgeries are capacitate to do so.
“We have also been empowering our health care workers with necessary continuous training, this second edition of surgical marathon programme benefited patients that were on the waiting list ,this initiative truly embodies the spirit of Nelson Mandela Day by improving lives through vital surgical interventions,” she added.
Pretoria News