Carte Blanche urges businesses to make a difference

According to Carte Blanche's Executive Producer George Mazarakis, this is long overdue. “As committed South Africans, we feel the time has come to make a contribution to the future of our children. We have therefore decided to dedicate the months of August and September to the plight of needy children in two ways: by highlighting the needs of Pediatric Surgery Units in five major hospitals around the country, and taking a look at the needs of welfare organisations which focus on children.”

The five major hospitals include the Johannesburg General Hospital in Parktown, the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, the Bloemfontein Academic Hospital and the King Edward VIII Hospital in Kwa-Zulu Natal as well as the Pretoria Academic Hospital.

The resources that are required at these hospitals vary from ventilators to pediatric ICU beds.

Having been the subject of Carte Blanche's investigations in recent months, hospital officials were initially sceptical about the nature of the campaign. Mazarakis points out that, “Carte Blanche does not want to discredit the good work government is doing, but rather wishes to make constructive contributions towards improving the performance of public institutions and highlight international best practices that are used to sustain free public healthcare.”

In Australian hospitals, the private sector plays a fundamental role in providing the necessary equipment for such units.

Mazarakis adds: “South Africa has some excellent public medical institutions, which are unfortunately under-resourced, under-funded and under-staffed. Carte Blanche, as part of its 20th birthday celebrations, would like to ensure that the children of tomorrow get the treatment they deserve by galvanizing private enterprise into supporting our hospitals.”

For the Making a Difference campaign, Carte Blanche will produce a number of stories which will be broadcast during this awareness period and which will culminate in a special birthday transmission on Sunday 21 September.

While introducing this campaign in the episode broadcast on Sunday 3 August, Carte Blanche reflected on inspiring stories that touched the nation throughout the years. Viewers opened their hearts - and pockets - when they learnt how Eugene Murphy could not control his breathing. The same response was evoked by the stories of Chris Corlett, a courageous leukemia sufferer who desperately needed a bone marrow transplant to save his life; 10 year old Chaeli Mycroft whose desire for a state of the art motorised wheelchair lead to the birth of The Chaeli Campaign; and 19 year old Ashely Kaimowitz who made a documentary to create awareness and a safe haven for sexually abused children.

Carte Blanche hopes that the South African business community will support this worthy campaign in full force since the resources, funds and equipment needed in hospitals around the country is immense. In its 20 years Carte Blanche has won over 110 awards for credible journalism and now transmits on cable in the USA as well as on satellite television in Western Europe. Carte Blanche also enjoys the status of the most watched programme on the entire DStv platform, across all channels.

Log on to the Carte Blanche website by visiting www.mnet.co.za/carteblanche.