UNPAID SUPPLIER STOPS ISOTOPES TO GAUTENG HOSPITALS

An unpaid medical company has stopped supplies of the Technetium radioisotope to four hospitals in Gauteng.

The nuclear medicine departments of the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic, Chris Hani Baragwanath, Steve Biko and George Mukhari hospitals have all been affected.

My information is that AEC-Amersham has frozen supplies of this crucial isotope because they have not been paid. This also happened in February this year, when Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi had to step in to ensure the company was paid. I visited Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital this morning and found that they are only doing about five scans a day, rather than 25 as is usually the case.

They are also short of Fludeoxyglucose (FDG), which is used for medical imaging. They usually use this to do about six Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans a day, but this has now stopped.

This is an appalling situation that affects the survival chances of cancer patients who need to be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.

I call on the Gauteng Health Department to recognise the gravity of this crisis and resolve it as soon as possible.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, July 27 2011

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