EDITORIAL: Outlook is bleak for patients under Gauteng government
Health department lurches from one crisis to the next, with tragic consequences for patients
Gauteng is SA’s economic heartland, generating a third of the country’s GDP and home to more than a quarter of its population. It gets the biggest public healthcare budget in the country, at almost R65bn, and is graced with two medical schools and 37 public hospitals, including Chris Hani Baragwanath, the largest hospital in Africa. With all these resources at its disposal, the province should be leading the way in the provision of healthcare. Yet it lurches from one crisis to the next, with tragic consequences for patients.
The latest horror to hit the headlines is the lethal wait confronting cancer patients who need radiation therapy, which is used to kill remaining cancer cells after surgery and helps prevent cancer returning. A delay in the provision of radiation therapy is no small thing; patients suffer and die. Yet an estimated 3,000 patients are now waiting for radiation therapy in Gauteng, with tragic consequences...
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