The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) says prostate and breast cancer patients will be assessed at Steve Biko Academic Hospital before being referred to private facilities as part of its R260m-plus investment into oncology services.
This investment is aimed specifically toward patients who require radiotherapy.
In a statement the department said it has outsourced radiotherapy services to private healthcare providers for two years.
According to the GDoH, the move aims to assist the most urgent cases such as prostate cancer patients who can wait up to 300 days for radiotherapy and breast cancer patients who can wait up to 120 days.
The Service Level Agreement (SLA) is being finalised and treatments are expected to commence soon.
“As part of this intervention, the flow of patients between public and private healthcare facilities has been carefully planned, with the system designed to ensure that patients are seamlessly managed.
“Prostate and breast cancer patients will be assessed at Charlotte Maxexe Johannesburg Hospital and Steve Biko Academic Hospital before being referred to private facilities for radiotherapy.”
The department said this process will be subjected to quality checks.
This will help to reduce waiting times and improve the overall quality checks for oncology patients.
“After the completion of the treatment, the patients will be referred back to the public health system.”
The provincial health department is also expanding its radiotherapy infrastructure. Construction of additional radiotherapy centres is currently underway at Chris Hani Baragwanath and Dr George Mukhari academic hospitals.
New linear accelerator machines have also been acquired, existing equipment contracts extended and radiotherapists recruited.
“The backlog in cancer treatment, especially radiotherapy has been exacerbated by an influx of patients from outside Gauteng, resulting in long waiting times. Currently, over 2 600 patients are waiting for radiotherapy, mostly being prostate and breast cancer patients,” the department said.
It said these steps have laid the foundation for the National Health Insurance Bill (NHI), aimed at prioritising effective healthcare for all citizens.
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