PinkDrive to resume cancer screenings

THE PinkDrive will resume with its cancer screenings after their services were suspended with the initial lockdown.

Janice Benecke, KZN Administrator for the PinkDrive said the ‘secondary’ impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on cancer could result in an even greater loss of life.

“About 105,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in South Africa every year. It is estimated that due to lockdown a third of people are not reaching cancer screening services. If a third, or about 35,000 people, are not picked up through screening and referred for treatment, the cost of Covid-19 will be far greater than the number of people who die from it,” said Benecke.

Also read: PinkDrive partners with Department of Health in Covid-19 screening campaign

As services resume, the PinkDrive’s Mobile Women´s Health Unit will be operating. The 14-ton truck is described as a ‘doctor´s room on wheels,’ said Benecke.

“The unit boasts a state-of-the-art gynaecology area for pap smears and examinations, a reception area for administration and a radiology area.  The unit turns into a cancer powerhouse that enables PinkDrive to simultaneously tackle the two most prevalent female cancers – breast and cervical cancer by offering cervical cancer screening, mammograms, clinical breast examinations and for the men, Prostate-Specific Antigen screening for prostate cancer,” she added.

During the lockdown, PinkDrive partnered with the National Department of Health (NDoH) to assist with Covid-19 testing and screening to targeted hot spots in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Also read:Locally developed ventilator to assist in COVID-19 fight

With funding from their partners, PinkDrive will take the Mobile Women’s Health Unit into underprivileged communities to provide screening and education not only for breast, cervical and prostate cancer, but also HIV/Aids, TB, diabetic screening, Covid-19 screening and testing.

For more information about the PinkDrive or to donate toward the mobile clinic, contact Janice Benecke on 031 201 0074 or email: janice@pinkdrive.co.za.

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