Court compels health officials to prioritise cancer patients

THE Gauteng Department of Health will have to update and maintain the backlog list of cancer patients awaiting radiation oncology services and take all necessary steps to provide treatment to those patients, whether at public or private facilities.

- ZELDA VENTER

This is despite the department turning to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to appeal a judgment issued earlier, in terms of which it was ordered to come to the aid of these patients.

While the pending appeal would ordinarily suspend the order, the Cancer Alliance, supported by Section27, turned to the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, to ask that the order remain in force pending the outcome of the appeal.

Judge Fiona Dippenaar, in ruling in favour of the Cancer Alliance, stressed that the backlog meant that patients were being denied treatment within the treatment windows required for radiation to be effective, which had “dire consequences”.

She found that patients faced “irreversible and permanent harm” that affected not only their health but also their families and loved ones, which in turn created a broader public health and societal crisis.