Latest news with #EileenCarter
Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Maverick
More than two dozen children have starved to death in Nelson Mandela Bay in the past year
Alarmingly, the numbers have almost doubled since 2023, when 14 children under the age of five starved to death in Nelson Mandela Bay. Twenty-five children under the age of five died of severe acute malnutrition in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro in the past 12 months, and hundreds more had to be treated for less severe conditions triggered by starvation. Statistics released by the Eastern Cape Department of Health reveal that in the past 12 months, 237 children under five were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition and 501 with moderately severe and acute malnutrition, with more than 100 children being diagnosed in March alone. Alarmingly, the numbers have almost doubled since 2023, when 14 children under the age of five starved to death in Nelson Mandela Bay and another 216 new cases of severe acute malnutrition were confirmed over 18 months between 2022 and 2023. Read more: A silent killer is stalking babies in Nelson Mandela Bay Nelson Mandela Bay is widely regarded as the most prosperous metro in the province. Despite being the largest metro in the province, it has been allocated only R855,283 for its Social Relief of Distress programme by the provincial Department of Social Development. Between August 2024 and March 2025, only 241 food parcels were distributed by the department in the metro. The Human Sciences Research Council's National Food and Nutrition Security Survey, which was published last year, showed that in the metro 40% of children were stunted to some degree, with 14% being diagnosed with severe stunting, and 1.5% diagnosed as 'wasting', meaning their weight is lower than average for their height. According to the survey, 20% of households in the metro were experiencing severe food insecurity. In September 2024, the Eastern Cape Social Economic Council unpacked a provincial strategy to address hunger in the Eastern Cape. This followed the release of a report on hunger in the province by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which said child malnutrition in the Eastern Cape should be declared a disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act, compelling the government to intervene immediately and decisively. It found that a substantial percentage of children in the Eastern Cape were suffering from malnutrition. The SAHRC suggested that the government should increase the Child Support Grant (it was R480 at the time and is now R520) and extend the school nutrition programme to early childhood development centres. The Eastern Cape head of the SAHRC, Dr Eileen Carter, said the data that was provided to them had shown that from 2021 to 2022, more than 1,000 children in the province were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition, and 120 of them had died. The data also showed that 25% of the province's children were stunted. This has now increased to 40%. With the automotive sector being the heartbeat of the province's metros, the Automotive Business Council of SA's CEO, Mikel Mabasa, this month warned that the Eastern Cape was facing a humanitarian crisis because of high export tariffs imposed by the US that will probably come into effect on Friday. The tariffs have put a potential 100,000 jobs on the line. DM
Daily Maverick
12-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Too little, too late – lifesaving chemotherapy drugs for kids finally arrive at Eastern Cape hospitals
A month after the Eastern Cape Department of Health promised that they had paid the overdue bills that delayed the delivery of chemotherapy drugs to Nelson Mandela Bay hospitals and that the issue would be solved, crucial chemotherapy drugs finally started arriving at Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital. But it was too late for some children, who have missed a cycle of treatment, leaving them at high risk. A month ago, the Eastern Cape Department of Health assured the public that it had paid the overdue bills for pediatric chemotherapy drugs and that the problem was solved. Only it wasn't. And medical teams were thrown into a race against time to prevent their little patients from defaulting on their treatment. Crucial chemotherapy drugs needed to treat five children, who have already missed a full cycle of treatment, only arrived at Port Elizabeth's Provincial Hospital on Thursday, 12 June. The five children were just the most serious of cases – many others also missed a day or two of treatment and newly diagnosed patients could not receive their initial treatment. The additional month's waiting could have devastating consequences for the patients. One pediatric oncologist, who works in another province, said they have seen cancer returning if a child misses a cycle of chemotherapy, and sometimes the returned disease will be resistant to first-line drugs. On 19 May, the department indicated that overdue bills, which were the reason for the outage, were paid and that drugs will be delivered. Documents from senior officials in the department that have been confirmed with three sources as authentic, however, show that on 21 May, doctors were warned that 11 types of chemotherapy were not available, and in four of these cases it was due to 'closed accounts'. It is understood that companies wanted a bigger part of their overdue bills paid after an initial payment was made. Carboplatin, one of the crucial chemotherapy drugs, was, however, reported to be out of stock with a contracted supplier and needed to be sourced from another supplier. On 2 June, outages were still not addressed and the hospital had no Betamethasone, no Carboplatin, no Dacarbazine, no Methotrexate, no Leucovorin, no Polygam – either 6 grams or 12 grams – no Melphalan and no Spironolactone. Pharmacies had received Vinblastine (two months of stock) and Vincristine (commonly given as an IV injection – six months of stock). For the next 10 days, patients needing chemotherapy drugs that were out of stock were sent away. Yesterday, on 11 June, an entire contingent of patients were again sent away – five of them have by now missed an entire cycle of chemotherapy or three weeks of treatment. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has launched an investigation into the repeated interruptions of cancer treatment for public healthcare patients in the Eastern Cape. Dr Eileen Carter from the SAHRC said the Democratic Alliance (DA) had laid a complaint with them about the matter. The oncology units in Gqeberha previously ran out of chemotherapy medication in January after the Eastern Cape Department of Health's account with a supplier was suspended due to a delayed payment. At the time, the medicines that were in short supply were Docetaxel injection vials and Anastrozole tablets. On Sunday, Sizwe Kupelo, the spokesperson for the Eastern Cape MEC for Health Ntandokazi Capa, said the department 'wishes to reassure members of the public that drug availability in our facilities is one of the top priorities'. 'An amount of R284-million has been made available to pay pharmaceutical companies and order medicines. As of the past two weeks, R60-million was disbursed and various suppliers have already started deliveries. This week, orders and payments will continue to be made. To monitor progress, the head of the department, Dr Rolene Wagner, has established a task team led by a chief director to coordinate the whole ordering and delivery of medicines, with oncology being a priority. 'Pharmacists from all oncology departments in all three of our major hospitals also had a meeting with the HOD and pharmaceutical services in Bhisho to discuss their stock levels. We wish to re-emphasise that payment of service providers is no longer an issue at this stage and medicines are being delivered. 'However, we have been made aware that some companies that are on the national contracts do not have certain products available, due to global supply chain issues. 'To address this, the task team and relevant managers are liaising with the national department to seek permission to procure outside the contracted companies,' he said. This process appears to only have been started two weeks after the out-of-stock chemotherapy drugs crisis was confirmed. 'Once again, this is a priority to both the MEC and the HOD, and both offices will continue to monitor and provide support to colleagues on the ground,' Kupelo said. DM
Daily Maverick
20-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Eastern Cape cancer patients face more delays in getting critical chemotherapy
Patients, doctors and medical personnel face more chemotherapy disruptions after the Eastern Cape Department of Health said it would settle outstanding accounts with pharmaceutical companies only on Friday. The struggle for chemotherapy medication in Nelson Mandela Bay's state hospitals and at Frere Hospital in East London is likely to continue until at least the weekend, after the Eastern Cape Department of Health confirmed it would pay pharmaceutical companies that are owed millions of rands, only on Friday. With stock running dangerously low, oncologists, pharmacists and nurses have had to make excruciating decisions about who receives treatment and who does not, with some oncology units left with just one vial of the potentially lifesaving treatment. Medical staff have spent hours phoning across the province in a bid to source the drugs, particularly for children, to avoid cancer patients' treatment being interrupted. Patients' caregivers, who asked to remain anonymous, said they had been turned away when bringing children for chemotherapy. They said they had been told they would have to make a second trip when the chemotherapy drugs became available. On Monday, the Eastern Cape MEC for health, Ntandokazi Capa, promised that outstanding bills would be paid immediately; however, patients have been turned away and treatments halted. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has launched an investigation into the repeated interruptions of cancer treatment for public healthcare patients in the Eastern Cape due to unpaid accounts. Dr Eileen Carter from the SAHRC said the Democratic Alliance (DA) had laid a complaint with them about the matter. On Monday, Capa's spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, said R200-million had been set aside for the procurement of essential specialist medicines, including for cancer treatment. He said R43-million of this would be used to settle debts with pharmaceutical companies. However, on Tuesday he said this payment would probably only be made on Friday. Salomé Meyer from the Cancer Alliance said they were deeply concerned about cancer services in the Eastern Cape. 'Livingstone Hospital (this includes the two cancer units at Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital), now for the third time this year, does not have oncology medicines, and this is barely two months after the start of the new financial year. Should this trend of non-payment of invoices to suppliers continue, the lives of cancer patients will be impacted severely,' she said. Meyer said the head of the Eastern Cape Department of Health, Dr Rolene Wagner, had committed to meeting with them to find workable solutions for cancer care services in the province. The oncology units in Gqeberha previously ran out of chemotherapy medication in January after the Eastern Cape Department of Health's account with a supplier was suspended due to a delayed payment.. At the time, the medicines that were in short supply were Docetexal injection vials and anastrozole tablets. There was a similar shortage in 2023, which was blamed on a stock-out at suppliers. DM
Daily Maverick
19-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Cancer treatment interrupted for hundreds after Eastern Cape health department fails to pay medication bills
Desperate doctors have been forced to make decisions about who receives chemotherapy and who does not, with some oncology units left with only a single vial of the potentially life-saving treatment. The cancer treatment of hundreds of patients, including children, has been interrupted after the Eastern Cape Department of Health failed to pay suppliers for chemotherapy drugs. The province's MEC for Health, Ntandokazi Capa, has promised that outstanding bills will be paid immediately, but patients have already been turned away and treatments halted. Desperate doctors have been forced to make decisions about who receives chemotherapy and who does not, with some oncology units left with only a single vial of the potentially life-saving treatment. Medical staff said that as their urgent emails went unanswered, they spent the whole of Sunday frantically trying to borrow, exchange or buy chemotherapy medication from private pharmacists to avoid interrupting treatment for hundreds of patients. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has launched an investigation into the repeated interruptions of cancer treatment for public healthcare patients in the Eastern Cape due to unpaid accounts. Dr Eileen Carter from the SAHRC said the Democratic Alliance (DA) had laid a complaint with them about the matter. 'We have opened an investigation into the allegations received. It will now be undertaken as per our complaints handling processes,' she said. 'This is no longer a cash flow problem. It is a gross violation of human rights,' said the DA's spokesperson for health in the province, Jane Cowley. 'This ongoing crisis is not only jeopardising the physical health of cancer patients but is also taking a severe toll on their emotional and mental wellbeing. 'How does one explain to the mother of a 14-year-old boy that his treatment cannot continue because the department's non-payment has led the supplier to close their account? How does a doctor respond to a heartfelt letter from a 33-year-old woman, diagnosed with a curable form of Hodgkin lymphoma, who is begging for treatment so she can raise her three-year-old child? Impossible choices 'These are the impossible choices our healthcare workers are forced to face daily. Meanwhile, senior officials sit comfortably in air-conditioned offices, use state-owned vehicles for private errands and continue to protect a bloated payroll of politically connected individuals in non-essential posts,' said Cowley. The Eastern Cape health department spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, acknowledged systemic problems in the public health sector, including the lack of permanent CEOs at Livingstone and Port Elizabeth Provincial hospitals in Gqeberha. 'But we are busy conducting interviews now,' he said. The hospitals last had permanent CEOs in 2018, when unions ran the management teams out of the facilities. Kupelo said MEC Capa had stepped in to ensure that R200-million was set aside for specialist medicines, including cancer treatment. 'The department wishes to confirm allocation of R200-million for the procurement of essential specialist medicines, including for cancer treatment. R43-million of this allocation will be utilised in paying pharmaceutical companies for cancer medicines that were owed from the last financial year. This payment is expected to be effected this week. 'Availability of all categories of essential medicines in all our health facilities is a priority, and every year, the department budgets over R2-billion for this purpose. We have strengthened our distribution plan, and our main medicine depots are strategically positioned to supply the entire province. These are the PE medical depot in Gqeberha and Mthatha medical depot in the OR Tambo district,' said Kupelo. He said cancer patients were receiving their treatment even though alternative medication had to be administered in some cases. 'This week, the department is expecting additional stock from Adcock Health, Fresenius (Kabi), Kiara and Macleods,' he added. He said two chief directors had been assigned to Gqeberha to accelerate service delivery at Livingstone and Dora Nginza hospitals. 'The MEC gave a clear message to her management. She was there. She received the problems. She has given them until the end of the month to implement the decisions they have taken. 'You don't want to run away from a big elephant,' he said. 'Hospital management knows that the lack of a district hospital makes things difficult in the metro, as specialist hospitals must act as a district hospital.'
