In this hard-hitting open letter, SECTION27, Cancer Alliance and TAC activists argue that the Gauteng Department of Health has failed in fulfilling its obligations to provide radiation oncology services while over 3 000 cancer patients wait for treatment.
It is almost three months since – partly through the efforts of SECTION27 and Cancer Alliance – money was made available to the Gauteng Health Department to outsource radiation oncology services and address surgical backlogs in the province. It is deeply worrying that despite being provided with resources for this outsourcing project, very little has been done to date to ensure that patients get the long overdue care that they need, writes Khanyisa Mapipa.
In a landmark court decision, the Gauteng High Court recently confirmed the rights of all pregnant and lactating women and children under age six to access services for free at all levels of care. The court order sets a good precedent for migrant health rights going forward, writes Mbali Baduza and Kholofelo Mphahlele as they explain the build-up to the court proceedings and why this is significant for re-affirming the right to access to healthcare for all in terms of section27 of the Constitution.
Medico-legal claims in the public healthcare sector have been sharply increasing since at least 2014 and are taking huge bites out of already stretched provincial budgets. Motheo Brodie and Sasha Stevenson of SECTION27 assess what impact a recent court judgment and proposed legislation might have on the problem.
The national budget tabled this week shows that planned spending on public health is reduced by a massive R50.3 billion over the next three years. We cannot accept a vaccine versus health system trade-off. Government must both expedite the procurement of vaccines and ensure that provinces have the staff and other capabilities to rapidly roll them out and to maintain and improve the quality of healthcare services, argue writers from SECTION27.
The Pretoria High Court this week heard a challenge to the regulation of complementary medicine in South Africa. Tendai Mafuma and Julia Chaskalson explains why the case is important and why SECTION27 and the TAC got involved.
Tendai Mafuma describes what happened when SECTION27 tried to use new regulations to bring an end to the promotion of an unproven treatment for COVID-19 in South Africa and compares the current situation with the TAC’s successful court battle against Matthias Rath’s promotion of unproven AIDS treatments.
Spotlight has over the last year published a number of articles about sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). We have also kept a close eye on what appears to be…
SECTION27 has just published the third edition of its National Health Act Guide. Read what South Africa’s Director General of Health had to say about it.
Access to medicines is a complex, but critical issue. SECTION27’s Tendai Mafuma and Nomatter Ndebele explore how the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority hinders or could potentially assist access to affordable medicines.
There is mostly agreement that our environment is in a dire state and that it is closely linked to the health of communities. SECTION27’s Nomatter Ndebele and photojournalist Thom Pierce went to meet Mpumalanga activist Thomas Mnguni.
Quality of care often falls short in South Africa’s public healthcare system. Ektaa Deochand of SECTION27 takes a critical look at government’s plans to improve things.
