DURBAN:South African Catholic Bishops have taken a stand against the oncology crisis in KwaZulu-Natal by asking the SA Human Rights Commission to investigate cancer deaths in the province.
Bishop Gabuza, chairperson of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) Justice and Peace Commission said he was saddened to see the shortages of cancer specialists and the poor management of cancer-related equipment at hospitals in KZN.
“We have taken note of the task team that the Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, has set up to tackle the crisis. This crisis in the oncology services is a symptom of a deeper crisis of inefficient governance in the Health Department in KZN. We therefore ask the Health Minister to set up another Task Team as soon as possible to investigate the governance issues in the Health Department that have contributed to the cancer treatment crisis,” said Gabuza.
He said the crisis in oncology services has been dragging on for too long.
“As a result there is high possibility that many lives have been lost as a result of the ineptitude with which the crisis has been handled. We have therefore asked the Human Rights Commission to investigate and reveal the number of patients who have been diagnosed between January 2015 and June 2017 with stage 1 cancer in the various hospitals in KZN,” Gabuza said.
He hoped the investigation would reveal how many of them have died while waiting to access the MRI scanner and to commence treatment.
“If it is proven that, in the past two years, a significant number of cancer patients have indeed died as a result of ineptitude on the part of the Health Department in KwaZulu-Natal in remedying the crisis, those responsible should be identified and held to account.”