‘Travel or die’ for cancer patients in Limpopo
Cancer patients are left without much option at provincial hospitals and medical facilities in Limpopo as there are no radiation oncologists in the province to assist them.
POLOKWANE – Limpopo is just one of several provinces in the country that doesn’t have any radiation oncologists to assist patients with the other provinces being Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu-Natal.
This revelation came to light following a recent survey done by the South African Society of Clinical and Radiation Oncology (Sascro) which revealed half of South Africa’s nine provinces may be relying on just nine radiation oncologists.
Cancer patients who are in need of radiation are referred to Gauteng for assistance according to a nurse at a local hospital, who wished to remain anonymous. This, the nurse said, leads to long waiting lists for patients who, in many cases, do not have long to live.
“It puts financial strain on people who do not have the money for private doctors or transport to and from Gauteng for treatment. This basically means the Department of Health is failing people who could still have more time with their families if only they get the medical assistance they need as only radiation oncologists are qualified to provide the treatment many cancer patients require,” the nurse said.
Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, confirmed these findings during his recent budget speech, adding these patient referrals are made through formal arrangements between provinces.
According to the Sascro study, more and more specialists such as radiation oncologists move to the private sector. This, the study revealed, is not just because of monetary reward but because doctors in rural areas do not have the means to treat patients most of the time.
This has been a concern of the DA for several months now and DA Limpopo Spokesperson on Health, Langa Bodlani, told Review the shortage of oncologists is a subject he has raised several times at the portfolio committee meetings. He said the Department of Health has thus far failed to give satisfactory responses to these concerns.
“One thing that we know is that the entire management of the Department of Health is in chaos and for the past financial year they have misspent in the region of R400 million.
“They also have outstanding debt accruals of close to R1 billion. This means they will have to use money from this financial year’s budget to pay debt from previous years,” Langa said.
He added one of the DA’s concerns is that infrastructure and equipment, such as the radiation machinery at health facilities in Limpopo, are already deteriorated and cannot be repaired or replaced as needed as there is no money available to do so.
Review has reported on the matter several times in the past, in particularly the failure of equipment at the medical facilities in and around Polokwane.
“I am on record saying that the Department of Health needs to be placed under administration,” Bodlani added. It is also something the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has recommended numerous times after hearings with the department.
The MEC for Health, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, told Review the department is aware of the matter and has been advertising for the private sector to get involved and help out with shortage of oncologists.
“This too is a process as applicants we have found did not have the proper paperwork and they are going through the processes to get their paperwork in order,” she said.
“In the case of Linear radiation, the department had two machines of which one was written off as it was not functioning.
“Here the department is again going to the private sector for assistance. We can confirm there is no issues with chemotherapy, however.”
Ramathuba said the shortage of medical experts is a problem because of the time it takes to train them and have them all set up to work at full capacity. This is something, she added, the department is aware of and working on.
“We continue with our drive to recruit specialists and our target is to recruit an additional 59 specialists during this financial year. One of the biggest challenges we face, with Limpopo being classed as a mainly rural province, is that specialists are not keen to come and work in our rural hospitals.
“We believe the college of medicine will be able to produce more black doctors and specialists from rural areas who will appreciate coming back to work in the hospitals in areas where they come from,” Department of Health Spokesperson, Neil Shikwambana, told Review.
