The Right to Health Care in our Country
One of our fundamental values at Flying for Life is the 3rd goal of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, Good Health & Well-being, followed by the 10th goal, Reduced Inequalities.
Barriers to accessing proper healthcare in South Africa, include:
Delays in receiving appropriate care.
Inability to get preventative measures.
Financial strain
Tackling these barriers:
A very large percentage of people living in deep rural areas of South Africa lack access to quality healthcare or, it takes months to years for them to be treated for any major illness they might have. This is due to a shortage of staff, inexperienced staff, or lack of resources.
Delays in receiving appropriate healthcare:
Most of our patients have been on waiting list for a prolonged period and are unable to regularly go for check-ups because of the lengthy distances between home and hospital. At Flying for Life, with your help, we try by any means necessary to reduce these inequalities by providing basic healthcare to the people in our rural communities. We assist in flying our partner doctors who preciously volunteer their time to perform surgeries on a monthly basis.
Inability to get preventative measures: Our volunteer nurses assist to educate our patients in the rural communities on ways to stay healthy. Further providing preventative measures such as pap smears and screenings to detect cancer at an early stage or prevent it before it occurs. These procedures are essential as it also detects infections an individual may have, kick-starting treatment before further damage is caused.
In our latest interview with CEO, Maxine Holman, we touched on the story of preventative CHOC training done with clinic staff. A young 11-year-old girl was able to be screened as one of the local staff picked up an early-stage growth on her eye; this training done with local staff is another means to bring about preventative awareness and invest in sustainable methods.
Financial strain:
One of the major causes of inequity in access to proper health services is the cost associated with obtaining healthcare and the inability of underprivileged individuals to pay. All the community projects we do at Flying for Life are at no cost to our patients.
How you can get involved in bridging the gap:
Are you an Ophthalmologist, Dentist, Oncologist, or nurse who has a heart for helping those in need? who realises the blessing and privilege we have in giving back? Well then, you’ve just found your tribe. Join us in the fight against inequality by volunteering your skills.
All the work we do at Flying for Life would be impossible without the doctors who take time out of their busy schedules to be a part of our projects. Our doctors and nurses believe that everyone regardless of their background has the right to health, and that means that everyone should have access to the health services they need, when they need them, without having to suffer.
Does the work we do inspire you? Would you like to see us impact more people? Consider blessing us with a financial gift of R50 / R100 / R150 / R250 / R500 / R1000, or a donation of your choice. We use all monetary gifts to expand upon our projects across rural South Africa.
It is through you that we can fly to rural communities and provide our people with the healthcare services that they need.
Don’t forget that you can also become our CSR partner and donate towards our healthcare projects and add us to your portfolio.
It’s not just flying, it’s flying for life - to save a life.