Good Morning Angels: Lottostar assists with R200,000 towards urgent medical procedures

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has put pressure on public medical facilities to provide basic care, which means the long waiting lists for surgeries have grown even longer. It is a reality in South Africa that State hospitals are under great strain. This year, for thousands of South Africans, there just is no alternative but to wait. A group of private doctors and medical professionals have been working for a number of years to assist some of these patients through Operation Healing Hands (OHH). Where the state has to focus on life-saving, OHH focuses on life improvement and pain relief of state patients, like joint replacement and interventions that will prevent life-threatening or impairing conditions like cancer, blindness, and hearing loss.

Although these doctors give their time, skills, treatment, and expertise for free, theatre time at private facilities and consumables during procedures are very costly. OHH has reached out to Good Morning Angels for assistance for 13 patients who have been waiting for more than a year for urgent surgeries. Some of these are children, who need their tonsils removed, others need grommets or cancer treatment. The doctors and the patients are ready, they just need funds to cover the hospital costs. 

BACKGROUND Cornel Breedt: Breedt, 38, has been struggling with gradual hearing loss for the past 15 years since she matriculated. She has always been a state patient, as her single mom did not have medical aid and subsequently passed away. Cornel has also not been able to afford a medical aid and has seen many doctors and specialists over the past 15 years. She even received donated hearing aids, but this did not help either. The only solution for her rapidly deteriorating hearing loss is an operation, to fix the bones in her middle ears. At R70,000, this is not possible for her. 

REQUEST FOR: 13 Operation Healing Hands Patients like Cornél Breedt from Kempton Park 

REQUEST FROM: Dr Helene Basson on behalf of Operation Healing Hands 

ANGEL: Tasoulla Hadjigeorgio, Director of Lottostar 

SPONSORING: LottoStar is joining forces with Good Morning Angels with a special "With Love” fund to give added assistance to as many people in possible during the pandemic. From this fund, LottoStar will assist Operation Healing Hands with R200,000 towards the costs of doing the urgent procedures on 13 patients on 9 and 13 October 2020. 

ANGEL 2: Jeremy Yatt, Principal Officer of Fedhealth 

SPONSORING: Fedhealth will sponsor another R100,000 to make up the total needed for costs for the urgent procedures on 13 OHH patients on 9 and 13 October.

PLUS: Operation Healing Hands will be hosting a Free Eye Clinic on 17 October 2020 in Pretoria. Patients in need will get a consultation and eye check-up free of charge. Glasses will be made for up to 50 patients and people needing more serious treatment will be given guidance on future treatment and course of action.

ANGEL 3: The Good Morning Angels Fund NPC

SPONSORING: The GMA Fund will donate R20,000 towards the OHH Free Eye Clinic in Pretoria on 17 October 2020.