The Groote Schuur Trust launched an initiative in January – committing to easing the backlog of surgeries by performing 1500 additional operations this year.
Cape Town, South Africa (10 February 2022) – The Heroes of Groote Schuur shared that the Groote Schuur Trust launched a new initiative called the GSH Surgical Recovery Project. The project aims to carry out 1500 additional operations in one year. This is being done to clear the backlog in medical procedures at the hospital because of Covid.
The Trust needs around R15-million to cover the cost of the additional operations. Gift of the Givers announced that because of the vision and commitment shown by the hospital’s management team, it would help kickstart the project with a R5-million donation to the cause.
“Over the past two years we’ve dealt with the Covid crisis, which has disrupted how we’ve delivered healthcare, including surgical procedures,” said hospital CEO Bhavna Patel.
South Africa is recovering from the pandemic and that means catching up on everything that was missed over the last two years. Many surgeries were postponed because it was a necessary sacrifice, said Professor Lydia Cairncross, the Head of General Surgery and Project Lead for the project. Now that things are going back to normal, it is time to play catch-up and doing the additional operations is a good place to start.
Cairncross said that the intention was to turn wards used during Covid into a theatre, and that hospital surgeons had offered to work on the weekends at no cost. “This shows the willingness of staff to do what they can to help.” However, there would still be various other costs to enable these surgeries.
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, the founder of Gift of the Givers, said that the Surgery Recovery project was about hope, and called on government, corporates, the public, private hospitals and healthcare workers across the world who had learnt their skills at Groote Schuur to support the project.
“I’m very happy that a call has come from one of the most recognised hospitals in the country, on the continent, and that the management team supports this,” said Dr Sooliman. “We are very careful where we put our money … but this team is forward-thinking and a team like that should be supported.”
“This project has to work; it has to set an example to the rest of the country because people are really suffering.”
To donate to the Surgical Recovery Project.
Online donations to the GSH Trust: https://www.gshtrust.co.za/donate. Or EFTs into the GSH Trust bank account.
Bank: First National Bank
Branch code: 210554
Account name: Groote Schuur Hospital Trust
Account number: 62889609304
Account type: Business
Swift code: FIRNZAJJ
Reference: YourName + SurgRecov
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