Cancer Alliance, represented by Section27, has filed an application against the Gauteng health authorities in response to the department’s failure to utilise the allocated R784 million set aside by the Gauteng Treasury last year to address the radiation backlog and other surgical backlogs in Gauteng.

The application will be heard on Tuesday at the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg.

Despite being allocated R784 million, specifically for addressing the backlog in radiation oncology and surgery in the province, the department has made no meaningful progress in providing radiation oncology treatment to cancer patients on the backlog list, Section27 said.

Instead, following a protest held by interested parties, including Cancer Alliance and the Treatment Action Campaign at the end of April, after months of no communication or clarity, the department announced through a media statement that they have apportioned R250 million to procure planning services for the outsourcing of radiation and oncology services for a period of one year.

This decision leaves a remaining R534 million, which is purportedly intended for investment in oncology, medical and allied equipment, including construction of a bunker to house some of the machines.

However, given the department’s inaction in the provision of urgent radiation oncology services to the 3 000 patients on the backlog list, Cancer Alliance has been forced to bring an application to interdict the paying, disbursing and otherwise dealing with the R250 million, the applicants said.

They added that this is to ensure that cancer patients on the backlog list urgently receive the radiation and oncology services that they are constitutionally entitled to and for which Gauteng Treasury already made financial provision.

They are asking for the interdict to be in place pending a review of the decision not to provide integrated radiation oncology treatment.

“This case has sadly been plagued by delays since the allocation of funds to the department,” Section27 said.

Following the allocation of the funds, Cancer Alliance and Section27 met twice with Gauteng Health officials. At the last meeting in June last year, the department committed to a plan to use the allocated funding to address the backlog in providing radiation oncology services.

A key decision by Gauteng Health was that it would outsource the provision of radiation oncology services. The agreed-upon plan was for the department to appoint a service provider by early August last year.

“ However, shortly after our June meeting, the department abruptly ceased all communication with Cancer Alliance and us,” Section27 said..

They added that despite their repeated requests for progress with the implementation of the plan, no information was received.

It was only months later, in October last year, that Gauteng Health advertised a tender for the outsourcing of radiation oncology services, with a closing date of November 3. It awarded only the planning portion of the services required, and not the provision of integrated services.

“Radiation oncology services are a critical component in the treatment of cancer and so this case could not be more urgent. If patients do not receive radiation treatment within the recommended time frame of three months, they often suffer recurrences.

This can necessitate further medical assessment, cancer staging and sometimes further surgery and chemotherapy before they qualify for radiation treatment again.

Civil society organisations have been working on the frontlines of the radiation oncology crisis in Gauteng for years and have witnessed first-hand the heart-breaking consequences of the shortage in supply of radiation oncology services, Section27 said.

“The longer integrated radiation oncology treatment is delayed, the more lives are tragically lost among cancer patients. We, along with the Cancer Alliance and the Treatment Action Campaign, call upon the department to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide these patients with access to cancer treatment,” Section27 said.

Pretoria News

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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