Durban doesn’t have a single state oncologist

From the close of business on Friday there will not be a single cancer specialist doctor employed at any state hospital in Durban — and only two will be left in KwaZulu-Natal. This shocking development leaves hundreds — if not thousands — of cancer patients in KwaZulu-Natal’s biggest city facing clinical uncertainty and staring the possibility of death squarely in the face. It follows the resignation of the city’s last state oncologist‚ whose last day is Friday. Dr Thilomi Naidoo was the only remaining cancer doctor at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital following the resignation of another oncologist‚ Dr Sanele Kunene‚ earlier this month. Her departure means that the 846-bed referral hospital‚ one of the most sophisticated in the world and which treats about 80% of the provinces’s cancer patients‚ will be left with no oncologist. Oncology services‚ including radiotherapy‚ are provided at just three hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal: Inkosi Albert Luthuli and Addington in Durban‚ an...