Collab honours Nelson Mandela with charitable robotic surgeries

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In honour of Madiba’s prison number 46664, the initiative will include four surgeons, performing six robotic procedures, on six patients, over six days between 21 and 28 July 2025, across four specialities (urology, hepato-pancreato-biliary, colorectal, and upper gastrointestinal/general surgery) at the Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein.

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This forms part of the Mandela Week Surgical Marathon hosted by ASH, a registered not-for-profit, public benefit organisation established to alleviate surgical backlogs in the public sector and other African hospitals.

Following successful missions in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, this year's programme aims to complete 67 charitable procedures per province, honouring Nelson Mandela’s legacy. This year, the theme for Mandela Month is It’s still in our hands to combat poverty and inequity.

Professor Corlia Janse van Vuuren, the acting dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the UFS, says that this initiative is testament to a space where technology meets compassion, where science serves humanity.

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“Through this, we are proud to contribute to former President Nelson Mandela’s vision of creating a better world for all who live in it,” she says.