New oncology centre to ease burden on Durban hospitals

The recently opened state-of-the-art oncology centre at Grey’s Hospital will greatly improve the province’s fight against cancer, Highway Mail reports.

Addington and Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, both situated in Durban, are the only public institutions with oncology centres.

Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, MEC for Health, said the opening of this R50 million oncology centre in Pietermaritzburg will lessen the burden on the Durban hospitals.

Simlene-Zulu said this will bring convenience to cancer patients who are currently forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to access oncology services in urban centres within eThekwini, saving the department millions of rand in transportation costs in the process.

“We don’t have to be killed by cancer. We have to be screened, and get tested for cancer so that we can get the treatment. If we don’t get proactive, by the time we get treated you find that the cancer is too advanced and as the Department of Health, we are unable to help,” she said.

The new oncology centre is the first in a number of similar centres that the department hopes to open in other areas of the province.

“The kind of work that is being done here should be replicated in the rest of the province. We need a fourth oncology facility because if we don’t plan properly, at some point, we’re going to be inundated with numbers that we won’t be able to deal with properly,” said Simelane-Zulu.

Cancer is one of the most dangerous diseases in South Africa, killing more people than HIV/AIDS and Tubercolosis.