TUMOURS GROW WHILE PATIENTS WAIT
Patients with large and growing tumours wait desperately for diagnosis and treatment at the Dr George Mukhari Hospital in north western Gauteng.
This desperate situation has been reported to me by DA Tshwane Councillor Siobhan Muller who is trying to assist a 20-year-old man Gideon Kashimiri who has a tumour in his hip that is visibly growing every day.
He was first admitted to the hospital on Thursday last week. Doctors told him that he needed a biopsy and a CAT scan before they could operate to remove the tumour, but he would have to wait eight weeks for the scan due to the long waiting list.
I advised Clr Muller to contact Dr Trevor Fisher, the hospitals' Chief Executive Officer, who said he would look into it. She visited Gideon yesterday and was horrified to discover that he was in terrible pain as he had not been given any painkillers since Tuesday evening. She begged the staff for a painkiller and managed to get them to do a CAT scan on him at 12.30 pm that day.
Muller says that Gideon is in a desperate state and is not eating, with no drip installed until she pushed for it today. The doctor in charge operates only on Tuesdays and the biopsy results will take three weeks, so it will take about a month to operate on him.
This is a life-threatening emergency and he may not survive because of poor care. Biopsy results for possible cancer should not take more than 24 hours, and surgery should be done as soon as possible.
According to Muller, other patients in ward 8 at the hospital are also in a dire state. Mr Elvis Makhubela has a massive tumour on his back which is the size of a soccer ball and has been waiting for treatment since 19 June. They were going to operate on him and two other patients on Tuesday but it was cancelled at the last moment due to no towels available for the theatre. Two weeks ago all operations were cancelled due to no steam.
Another patient in ward 8 has been waiting for a CAT scan since March. He is now terminal with cancer as the doctor can do nothing until the scan is done.
Patients begged Muller to intervene as they say they are given no information as to what is happening to them
I have asked Dr Kamy Chetty, the head of the Gauteng Health Department, to intervene in Kashimiri's case and also to investigate the life-threatening delays in treating cancer at this hospital.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi should fix up the appalling state of public health before he attacks the private health sector.
Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, June 30 2011
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