Doctor Makhomisane breaks barrier of access with screening tests

POLOKWANE – November is National Diabetes Month, a time when communities across the country team up to bring attention to diabetes.

General practitioner and diabetologist Dr Mabowa Tshifhiwa Makhomisane explained that this year’s focus will be on managing diabetes by building a healthcare team, and explained that diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high.

“Looking at the importance of this month, I decided to offer screening tests at my practice for the entire month. We will not only be screening for diabetes but we have also decided to include screening for high blood pressure as well as cancer both in men and women,” Makhomisane said.

He added that his practice has now started a ‘detect early and save your life’ campaign which aims to reach as many women and men as possible.

“Women who are over 21 and sexually active should be getting their pap smears at least once every two years, this helps us to detect cancer of the womb early when intervention can still occur,” he said.

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He further explained that all women should be doing self breast examinations daily so that when a lump starts to appear, it can be removed early before the cancer spreads through out the body, similarly with men that are over the age of 40 should also be doing cancer screening for the prostate as it is very common after that age.

“Given the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension at least once a year, this is because early detection really does save lives. We are fully aware that not everyone has access to these types of tests and we would like to break this barrier of access. We have partners with a local laboratory Hamadi and the Limpopo Oncology Clinic to provide the cheapest screening for the community. We will now be able to offer a pap smear, diabetes check, high blood pressure check, urine kidney test and breast examination for all women over 21,” he said.

For men over the age of 40, they will provide a diabetes check, urine kidney test and high blood pressure check.

“These tests would usually cost between R1 700 and R2 100. We are quite excited to offer all of this for R150 to everyone for the month of November,” he said.

Specialist oncologist Dr Tumelo Moyaba added that the majority of cancers that doctors see in their clinic could have been prevented if they were detected early.

“We are exited to partner with this initiative to prevent or reduce cancer in the community,” Moyaba said.

Makhomisane added that he is greatful to the partners who joined this initiative in order to help decrease the cost of screening and therefore allowing him and his team to break the bearer to access quality healthcare.

Hamadi Laboratories is proud to expand their services to people who cannot afford these tests.

“This initiative will not only be good for the people but also a blessing to us as we get an opportunity to give back to our community,” Hamadi Laboratries general manager Moses Mawasha said.