Cancer Alliance has again sounded the alarm over the Gauteng Department of Health’s lack of communication about the outcome of a key tender for the outsourcing of oncology radiation treatment, and the whereabouts of millions allocated to address service shortfalls.
The department issued the tender for breast and prostate cancer patients in October 2023.
“We don’t know anything about the outcome of the tender… whether it has been awarded or even whether it will be awarded. Nothing is happening,” said Salomé Meyer from advocacy organisation Cancer Alliance.
The tender included a compulsory briefing session that Meyer says many suppliers of oncology services were unable to attend, and were thus excluded from applying for the tender.
“The manner in which they (GDoH) advertised the tender also went against the agreement we had with them. Everything they’ve done is completely against the collaborative agreements we had reached in how we will look for solutions to solve the crisis,” she told Daily Maverick.
Unfulfilled promises
In March 2023, Gauteng Finance MEC Jacob Mamabolo allocated R784m to the department to address the backlog in surgical and radiation oncology services.
Delivering his budget speech, Mamabolo said the provincial Treasury and Health Department had worked with civil society organisations, SECTION27 and Cancer Alliance, to find ways of procuring the equipment needed for radiation therapy for people on the waiting list.
He also thanked Cancer Alliance and SECTION27 for working with his department to bring the problems to light and praised his department’s work with the advocacy groups.
“This collaborative approach with civil society in addressing the crisis is expected to address the waiting lists, and I anticipate that this time next year, we will be outlining the resolution to this challenge,” he added.
However, three months later, in June 2023, concerns were voiced because little had been done to ensure patients received the long-overdue care they needed – despite the financial allocation.
Sounds of silence
Meyer said there were communication issues with the GDoH even before the tender advertisement.
“They (GDoH) refused to communicate with us. They just ignore our phone calls, our emails … they simply do not communicate,” she said.
The lack of communication went against the ethos of their agreement, she added.
The province has a backlog of roughly 3 000 patients waiting to receive potentially life-saving radiation treatment at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and Steve Biko Academic Hospital.
The backlog consists mainly of treatments for prostate cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer and some colon cancer, said Meyer.
“How many of these patients are still alive remains to be seen, as they will have to be recalled for re-evaluation and staging,” she said.
Meyer also voiced concerns about where the R784m allocated to address the backlog has disappeaered to.
The Health Department had not responded to Daily Maverick’s request for comment by the time of publication.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Gauteng Health cancer tender raises red flag
Gauteng partners with private sector to reduce cancer backlog
Johannesburg protest march over neglect of cancer patients
Cancer Alliance research: Gauteng state hospitals’ failures hamper treatment