Hino joins fight against breast cancer

A specially-equipped Hino 500 Series has joined the fleet of vehicles operated by the PinkDrive charitable organisation in its fight against breast cancer in South Africa.

The Hino 500 Series 1626 chassis cab is fitted with a box body containing specialised equipment for carrying out mammographic screenings. It is valued at approximately R10 million.



“This is our second mobile mammography unit. We also have a truck-mounted educational unit that traverses the country along with three educational cars,” explains Noelene Kotschan, founder and director of PinkDrive.

“The mobile mammography vehicles travel to semi-urban and urban areas. The objective is to provide disadvantaged communities access to education, physical examination and information on how to do breast self-examination in the fight against cancer,” adds Kotschan.

She says the organisation has already provided over 5 000 free mammograms, undertaken over 54 000 clinical breast examinations, educated over 79 000 people and distributed over 90 000 items of educational material. 

The fact that Bidvest is a major sponsor of this project resulted in the group’s McCarthy automotive retailer being called on to supply the vehicle. In the end it was Hino Selby that undertook the project, which included lengthening the long-wheelbase 1626 chassis.

The handover of the Hino-based unit to PinkDrive took place in Johannesburg and was attended by First Lady Tobeka Madiba-Zuma; Deputy Minister of Health, Gwen Ramokgopa; Deputy Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu; and the MEC of Health for Gauteng, Hope Papo.