Eastern Cape cancer patients face more delays in getting critical chemotherapy

The struggle for chemotherapy medication in Nelson Mandela Bay’s state hospitals and at Frere Hospital in East London is likely to continue until at least the weekend, after the Eastern Cape Department of Health confirmed it would pay pharmaceutical companies that are owed millions of rands, only on Friday.

Read more: Cancer treatment interrupted for hundreds after Eastern Cape health department fails to pay medication bills

With stock running dangerously low, oncologists, pharmacists and nurses have had to make excruciating decisions about who receives treatment and who does not, with some oncology units left with just one vial of the potentially lifesaving treatment.

Medical staff have spent hours phoning across the province in a bid to source the drugs, particularly for children, to avoid cancer patients’ treatment being interrupted.

Patients’ caregivers, who asked to remain anonymous, said they had been turned away when bringing children for chemotherapy. They said they had been told they would have to make a second trip when the chemotherapy drugs became available.

On Monday, the Eastern Cape MEC for health, Ntandokazi Capa, promised that outstanding bills would be paid immediately; however, patients have been turned away and treatments halted.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has launched an investigation into the repeated interruptions of cancer treatment for public healthcare patients in the Eastern Cape due to unpaid accounts.

Dr Eileen Carter from the SAHRC said the Democratic Alliance (DA) had laid a complaint with them about the matter.

On Monday, Capa’s spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, said R200-million had been set aside for the procurement of essential specialist medicines, including for cancer treatment. He said R43-million of this would be used to settle debts with pharmaceutical companies.

However, on Tuesday he said this payment would probably only be made on Friday.

Read more: Godongwana’s Budget promises improved funding for the health sector — but is it enough?

Salomé Meyer from the Cancer Alliance said they were deeply concerned about cancer services in the Eastern Cape.

“Livingstone Hospital (this includes the two cancer units at Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital), now for the third time this year, does not have oncology medicines, and this is barely two months after the start of the new financial year. Should this trend of non-payment of invoices to suppliers continue, the lives of cancer patients will be impacted severely,” she said.

Meyer said the head of the Eastern Cape Department of Health, Dr Rolene Wagner, had committed to meeting with them to find workable solutions for cancer care services in the province.

Read more: Gauteng high court orders urgent action to address cancer treatment backlog in public hospitals

The oncology units in Gqeberha previously ran out of chemotherapy medication in January after the Eastern Cape Department of Health’s account with a supplier was suspended due to a delayed payment..

At the time, the medicines that were in short supply were Docetexal injection vials and anastrozole tablets.

There was a similar shortage in 2023, which was blamed on a stock-out at suppliers. DM