An ambitious record attempt by Project Flamingo today will aim to perform 30 breast cancer surgeries in five hospitals in the Western and Eastern Cape in 24 hours.

This monumental effort is part of their Mandela Day celebrations.

Five teams will carry out surgeries at the George, Groote Schuur, Tygerberg, Cecilia Makiwane (East London) and Livingstone (Gqeberha) hospitals.

Highly skilled volunteer surgeons and anaesthetists will work together with dedicated theatre nursing staff. Students of Flaminglet, an associated programme for medical students and young professionals, will collaborate to deliver top-quality care.

The aim is to help reduce the backlog of patients waiting for life-saving treatment and highlight the critical issue of breast cancer and the importance of early detection and treatment.

“Cancer is a rising burden in South Africa and the public health system simply cannot manage the patient load, which means that many patients are caught in unacceptably long waiting periods for adequate breast cancer treatment.

“The purpose of Project Flamingo is to address the urgent need for timely cancer care in the public health sector, and to bring hope to patients in need,” says Dr Liana Roodt, founding director of Project Flamingo and surgeon.

Roodt has previously taken part in catch-up breast cancer surgeries at George Hospital.

Project Flamingo has for the past 14 years met this challenge head-on with catch-up surgeries, compassionate patient support and advocacy programmes such as this attempt.