Advocacy group slams oncology claims

KZN Department of Health accused of gross mismanagement

AN ADVOCACY group has lashed out at the provincial Department of Health and accused it of lying and trying to silence whistle-blowers who were lifting the lid on the department’s failings.

In a damning letter to KwaZuluNatal Premier Willies Mchunu and the health portfolio of the provincial legislature, Medical Rights Advocacy Network (MeRAN) accused the department of gross mismanagement.

The authors of the letter, Mary de Haas and Poonitha Naidoo, said that despite the denial by KZN Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, cancer patients continued to die because they did not receive life-saving treatment timeously.

Department spokesperson Agiza Hlongwane said they had not seen the letter from MeRAN and stood by their earlier statement that interventions had ended a “crisis” in the province.

The group’s letter followed the department saying on Sunday that detractors’ were on a “deliberate and relentless campaign” which ignored the progress made to improve cancer treatment and oncology services.

The department said reports of a backlog of 8 000 cancer patients in KZN were not correct.

The statement was released shortly before a Carte Blanche story was aired on the medical crisis in the province.

Dhlomo said this misled the public about the status of oncology services in KZN. He said the department’s records showed 205 patients had been booked in at the radiotherapy clinic at Addington Hospital from August 6 to December 3. Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital was treating 153 and Grey’s Hospital 198.

Dhlomo said waiting times to receive treatment had been slashed.

However, MeRAN said medical professionals told them that patients were still waiting months for treatment.

MeRAN also alleged that there had been a clampdown on information by the department.

“In KZN the MEC responsible for several years of qualified audits and billions of rand in irregular expenditure is also responsible for the corruption that has led to the deaths of an unknown number of cancer patients. We call on the premier and the portfolio committee to advise us why they have continued to condone this conduct by MEC Dr Dhlomo,” MeRAN’s letter said.

They called for Mchunu and the portfolio committee to dismiss him.

Meanwhile, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Stop Stock-Outs Proeject (SSP) claimed there was a shortage of stock of antiretrovirals countrywide, including in KZN.

TAC also claimed there was a shortage of essential medicine such as contraceptives, BCG vaccine for newborns, Ibuprofen and Panado.

In a statement issued yesterday, SSP said they met the national Health Department deputy director-general, Dr Anban Pillay, provincial department health heads and medicine suppliers about the shortages of certain ARVs and contraceptives.

According to acting manager, SSP and chief executive: Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, Lauren Jankelowitz, the meeting was positive, with all agreeing to work together to minimise the impact of stockouts.

Health Department spokesperson Popo Maja confirmed the meeting had been held and said SSP was told that at least three months of stock of ARV medication was currently available. He said they were expecting delivery of more medication in a few weeks.

Maja said supplies of BCG and contraceptives were low globally and the department had been battling to secure stock.