Overwhelmed by lack of funds, South African public hospitals are scaring away patients and staff, says the weekly Mail & Guardian as part of a series of reports devoted to the “bankruptcy” of the country’s public services
In its February 4 edition, the Mail & Guardian published a series of reports devoted to the “state bankruptcy” South African. Nearly thirty years following the end of apartheid, public services are in a state of severe decay. In question, in particular, an almost decade of disastrous management and massive corruption under the mandate of Jacob Zuma (2009-2018). Among these services in agony is the public hospital, where you have to wait up to five years for treatment with radiotherapy once morest certain cancers.
In the province of Johannesburg, more than 2,000 patients are awaiting treatment, worries the South African weekly. Only two hospitals offer radiotherapy in this region. In November 2021, two activist groups, Cancer Alliance and Treatment Action Campaign, organized a march to demand action on what they call the “cancer crisis”. According to them, a patient can wait up to five years for radiotherapy if they have prostate cancer, up to a year if it is breast cancer and six months in the case of cervical cancer. Salomé Meyer, member of the Cancer Alliance, explains:
Currently, women have access to cervical cancer screenings because there is a screening policy. There is also a campaign for breast cancer but it is not implemented, because the provinces do not have the means to train medical personnel in breast examinations and we do not have enough mammograms. Provinces are trying to implement lung and prostate cancer campaigns, but only to a point because they are short of money.”
Flight into the private sector of nursing staff
Due to a lack of money, hospitals are also in acute need of specialized oncology nurses and medical personnel in general. Due to lack of funds, the overwhelming majority of caregivers move to the private sector or overseas. “Most nurses whose studies were financed by taxes end up in the private sector”see the Mail & Guardian. About 40% of general practitioners and nurses work for the 17% of the population who have medical insurance.
Even without medical insurance, some patients sometimes turn to the private sector, frightened by the reputation of the public hospital. This is the case of Ntsako Khosa, who paid in cash for the delivery of her two children in the private sector for fear of the public sector: “I’ve heard of children going blind, others being beaten in labor and the whole process is traumatic, from what I’ve been told.” Ntsako did try to get an ultrasound in a public hospital, before turning on his heels: “I looked around, it wasn’t clean or warm, I didn’t want my baby to be born here.”
Long wait for an operation
Zandile Ndlovu also went private when she needed hernia surgery in 2019. In the public, she was put on a waiting list given a prescription for painkillers for six months awaiting a date. In private, she was operated on in two weeks. Cost of the invoice: around 56,000 rand, or more than 3,000 euros.
However, Zandile does not despair of the public hospital. “She saw the ‘good sides’ of the sector when her 4-year-old daughter years old was diagnosed with autism”she explains to Mail & Guardian. In the public, the child had access to language therapy sessions, occupational therapy, neurology consultations and a visit to an audiologist without difficulty. “In the private sector, this would have exhausted our benefits, because autism is not considered a chronic disease and does not have guaranteed minimum reimbursements”, explains the mother.
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Founded in 1985, under the name of Weekly Mail, the title was banned three years later by the apartheid regime due to its criticism of the authorities. She was refloated in 1993 by the Guardian from London. After having
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