Better comfort for breast cancer patients |28 May 2015

Breast cancer patients can expect better comfort now that the Oncology Unit has received a donation of breast prostheses and mastectomy bras.

The donation, a gift from Sophia Harryba, a Seychellois doctor working in Australia, comprises 70 breast prostheses and 350 mastectomy bras which have cost about R500,000 .

Breast prostheses are breast forms intended to simulate breasts and it is most commonly used after a mastectomy, which is usually a consequence of cancer.
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely.

It was Dr Harryba’s mother, Elizabeth Julienne, who handed over the donation to the director of hospital services Dr Laurence Reginald in a short ceremony earlier this week at the Oncology Unit of the Seychelles Hospital.

The ceremony took place in the presence of high officials of the Ministry of Health and staff members of the Oncology Unit.
On behalf of the Health Care Agency, Dr Reginald thanked Dr Harryba through Ms Julienne for this benevolent gesture and pointed out how important and in demand these items have been at the hospital for the past few years.

“These are very costly items for our patients to get their hands on and not at all available locally,” said Dr Reginald.
Ms Julienne noted that this is the third time that her daughter makes such donation.

We also learned that Dr Harryba has also donated books to the Pointe Larue secondary school and School of Advanced Level Studies.