KZN Health MEC says recruitment for new oncologists will be prioritised

Dhlomo says they have also been told by the manufacturers that broken machinery will be up and running in no time. 

The MEC tabled his department's interventions for the public health crisis in the KZN Legislature in Pietermaritzburg yesterday. 

Other challenges facing the department include human resource management, financial management, supply chain management, aging infrastructure and equipment.

"We are looking into the report, we will specifically be looking into the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission and attend to it. In the report they so mention some of the patients," he said. 

KZN Premier, Willies Mchunu, said yesterday that the health budget will be re-prioritised to ensure critical posts are filled. 

Finance MEC, Belinda Scott, says the commitment from Treasury will be substantial.  

Opposition parties asked why the situation had not been sorted out earlier - considering it had been brought up several times before. 

She says it is not true the Health and Finance are only waking up to the problem now.

"For me the first thing was to try and go in do an assessment, find out what it would cost to do an immediate turn around and we have very tight timelines. We want to see real improvement by January next year," she said. 

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