KZN Oncology Crisis: MEC Dhlomo is no saviour of the sick and suffering

24 July 2017

The Kwa-Zulu Natal Health MEC, Sibongiseni Dhlomo's announcement late last week that there is a company on site, repairing the broken Radiotherapy cancer machines at Addington Hospital in fact refers to Techmed – the same company he has rubbished at every possible opportunity since 2013 and even sought to blame for the machines being broken in the first place.

At a meeting on Wednesday last week between MEC Dhlomo, Techmed and Varian Medical Systems (VMS), MEC Dhlomo finally, after years of non-compliance, agreed to pay the outstanding R10 million due to Techmed, the company originally responsible for servicing oncology machines at the province’s government-run hospitals.

This move by the MEC is nothing more than a face-saving exercise and is too little, too late.

While the DA welcomes any initiative aimed at improving the lives of KwaZulu-Natal’s people, we will not tolerate the MEC’s attempts to portray himself as the saviour and champion of the sick and suffering. His suggestion, that there is an end in sight to the province’s oncology crisis following his face-saving meeting with Varian, is merely creating false hope for the many cancer sufferers in our province.

The reality is that there is a long way to go and under the current leadership, it may take longer.

For years MEC Dhlomo was so hell-bent on not paying Techmed or using their services that he brought in a backyard repair company which then meddled with what is highly sophisticated machinery and then left with it still unable to function. It is highly possible that the oncology machines at Addington are now beyond repair.

The DA will therefore write to the Chairperson of the provincial Health portfolio committee to request a full assessment into this with details to be presented at the next portfolio meeting. We will also request proof that posts for oncologists and other personnel have been advertised and that every attempt is made to fill them within specific timeframes.

Given the ongoing cover-ups by the MEC and his department, the DA will not accept any new information, unless it can be verified. This on the basis that the MEC’s promises to fix the oncology crisis in 2013 were never honoured. The subsequent payment to Techmed after refusing to do so for four years has also thrown all his previous allegations about that company under the bus.

Not only has the MEC misled the people of KZN. He has also misled the DA, the KZN legislature, the health portfolio committee, SCOPA and the Finance committee by supplying false CAS numbers in terms of investigations by the NPA. That he has consistently lied is yet another reason why he should be relieved of his duties. Add to this his thuggish and illegal means of keeping us out of Addington hospital earlier this month, for which we are still exploring our legal options.

The reality is that it took the DA's complaint to the SAHRC over a lack of access to cancer treatment in the province to compel him to act.

The MEC still has much to answer for. Why did he not act sooner? Why did he sit on his hands while more than 500 people lost their lives and several hundred more were diagnosed with cancer and told to wait years for treatment?

The DA will continue to keep a close watch on any progress made in terms of KZN’s oncology crisis. This will include unannounced visits to faciliaties. We do not need the MEC's permission to do our work and perform oversight of the promises that he has made to people.

Despite the MEC having misled everyone for far too long, his ANC masters keep him there to do more of the same with the Premier showing that, no matter what, the ANC comes first and the citizens of KZN come last - even if curable cancers continue to become incurable – and even if our healthcare facilities have become places of death and dying instead of sanctuaries of healing. The Premier is now equally complicit and responsibility for any new deaths or disabilities that arise due to a lack of access to cancer treatment must also be placed at his door.

The MEC cannot simply rinse the bloodstains off his hands. He must go.

Issued by Imran Keeka, DA KZN Spokesperson on Health, 24 July 2017