Oncology crisis in KZN caused by unskilled people – Motsoaledi

THE root cause of the oncology crisis in KwaZulu-Natal Health Department, is not caused by the non-functionality of the machines but by the procurement of services‚ human resources and a lack of management skills.

So said Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi at a media briefing at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital on Friday.

Mostoaledi went on to say that, in comparison to other provinces, KZN had the third largest number of oncology machines in the country, despite the two non-functioning machines at Addington Hospital.

“The problems in KZN are not created by the non-functionality of the oncology machines in Addington Hospital, that is just one of the symptoms of the problem. We have found that the biggest problem in KZN health department is the planning of human resources. The development and management of human resource has not been going well and is the root cause of all these problems. Specialists are leaving not only in the oncology department, but across the board. The second biggest problem is procurement, the manner in which procurement is done has been found wanting,” said Motsoaledi.

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“Even if we bring in two brand new oncology machines, the crisis won’t go away. There is gross lack of management skill in the department of health. We are taking over the function of procurement from the Department of Health until it stabilizes,” he said, adding that a forensic audit into the procurement process of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health‚ dealing with a crisis in treating patients with cancer‚ had been commissioned.

“It’s not the first time we are doing this, we did in Gauteng and it worked,” he said.

Earlier this year, Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane confirmed that her office was investigating a contract and tender related to two R120-million state-of-the-art cancer radiotherapy machines that have stood idle in Addington Hospital for most of the past three years.

The Human Rights Commission is also investigating the crisis which is taking its toll on people with cancer. The probe follows a complaint laid by the Democratic Alliance earlier this year. The KZN department of health revealed, as part of its response to the South African Human Rights (SAHRC), that more than 150 cancer patients are currently awaiting treatment in KwaZulu-Natal’s public health facilities – some for up to eight months.

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In referring to the crisis in KZN, Motsoaledi said government was aware of the problems experienced with the company, which supplied medical equipment to the whole country. The company has been accused of failing to maintain and repair the machines.

“We have been aware of the shenanigans by the company. In fact, the same thing happened in the North West and Gauteng. What they did there was worse than here, but those provinces don’t experience the problems KZN has. The Eastern Cape has two oncology machines‚ one at Frere Hospital in East London and one in Port Elizabeth.

The Free State has two at Universitas Academic Hospital‚ one of which goes for regular repairs. These two machines also serve the whole of Northern Cape where there are none,” he said.

“Another province with no oncology machine is Mpumalanga. North West has one. The Western Cape has four at Tygerberg Hospital – one of which has been condemned – and three at Groote Schuur Hospital. Gauteng has four machines at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria and four at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg. In terms of oncology equipment, even with the non-functionality at Addington‚ KZN is number three in the country. Now that tells you that it can’t be root cause of the crisis‚” said Motsoaledi.

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