Cancer patients in need of radiation treatment are falling through the cracks as the government fails again on its promises to get Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke Hospital safely back on its feet following a devastating fire nearly two months ago.
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At a webinar around the theme “Inequities to cancer medicines in South Africa”, Salome Meyer from non-profit organisation Cancer Alliance said on Tuesday that Covid-19 had served to further prove the inequities of the South African health system and that “Availability” of medicines needed to be coupled with “Affordability”, which would then translate into “Access” to medicines for everyone in need.
Quoting former president Nelson Mandela, Meyer said “health cannot be a question of income; it is a basic human right”.
The Cancer Alliance produced a report in 2017 titled
Patent Barriers of Cancer Medicines that showed patents blocked the availability of more accessible generic medicines. Meyer said the report stated that only seven of the 21 registered cancer medicines available in the private sector were available in the public health sector.
The Senate was in session this week, starting on Monday, when the Senate Communications and Technology Committee held a public hearing on the expansion of 5G and small cell wireless infrastructure.