SECTION27 and other health activists were disappointed that Gauteng Health had been granted leave to appeal a judgment in favour of the Cancer Alliance in March this year – allowing the department to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
They said they would oppose the department’s appeal against a High Court judgment that found its failure to provide radiation treatment to thousands of cancer patients was unconstitutional and unlawful. The March judgment also compelled the department to take all necessary steps to provide the patients with the services they required.
“The Cancer Alliance and SECTION27 will oppose the appeal and continue to insist the department complies with the interim order, which in our view is not affected by the appeal process,” SECTION 27’s Khanyisa Mapipa told TimesLIVE.
The court ordered that the department was compelled to provide radiation oncology services to cancer patients on a backlog list with money set aside for this purpose by the National Treasury. It was also ordered to submit progress reports to the court detailing plans to clear the backlog, believed to number about 3 000 patients.
Mapipa said that while they had anticipated the department might appeal the ruling, they were saddened by the development and saw it as a delaying strategy.
“Meanwhile, we plan to insist that the department continues to act in accordance with the interim court order that instructs it to provide radiation and oncology services to patients,” she said, describing it as an instruction meant to save lives, and which should not have been met with an appeal.
She questioned whether the department was appealing the case because it felt its rights were being violated, or because it no longer had the funds (R250m) that had been ringfenced and allocated specifically for that purpose and was thus now unable to comply with the court order.
“It is possible the case will go to the Appeal Court …where they will read the court record and throw the matter out. But what it does mean is that the matter may only be heard in 2026, which gives them time to stall. So we are going to ask that patients continue to be assisted in the meantime,” she said.
Mapipa said the appeal did not suspend the interim order and the department was therefore obliged to comply with it.
At the heart of the case is the Gauteng Health Department’s failure to spend a R784m allocation from the provincial Treasury to clear the backlog of patients waiting for radiation oncology treatment. The services were to be procured from the private sector, over a three-year period starting in 2023/2024, but were so badly delayed the Gauteng Health Department had to return the first R250m tranche of money to the provincial Treasury.
Contrary to advice from the provincial Treasury and the National Department of Health, Gauteng Health opted for a protracted tender process instead of using legal provisions that would have allowed it to urgently procure services from the private sector, Section 27 told Business Day.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Gauteng Health appeals ‘cancer backlog’ court order
Court orders urgent action to address Gauteng cancer treatment backlog
Unspent R250m cancer treatment funds returned to Treasury