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‘Too Late for Me,’ Cancer Patient’s Story Exposes Gauteng’s Failing Health System
A Plea That Came Too Late
When 42-year-old Thato Moncho begged doctors at a Gauteng hospital for radiation therapy, she was told to come back in seven months. Her cancer was aggressive, spreading fast, and she knew she did not have that kind of time. “I remember saying to them, ‘I don’t have that much time. What I’ve been diagnosed with needs treatment at a certain time.’ They told me to have faith,” she recalled.
By the time her turn arrived, the disease had spread beyond control. From her breast, it moved to her lungs, then to her brain, liver, and bones. Radiation, once her hope, was no longer possible.
Her story is heartbreaking, but it is not unique. Around 3,000 cancer patients are currently stuck on waiting lists for chemotherapy and radiation across Gauteng’s public hospitals.
The Courts Step In
In March this year, the Johannesburg High Court ruled that Gauteng’s failure to provide radiation and oncology services was “unlawful and unconstitutional.” Last week, the court reinforced that decision, rejecting the provincial health department’s attempts to stall compliance.
The ruling ordered officials to update the backlog list and take every necessary step to treat patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and Steve Biko Academic Hospital. Judge Fiona Dippenaar stressed that cancer patients “do not have the luxury of time.”
Despite this, the Gauteng health department appealed the order, arguing that compliance should be suspended. The court dismissed that argument outright.
Delays That Destroy Lives
Moncho’s medical history shows the real cost of those delays. Diagnosed in 2020, she completed nine cycles of chemotherapy and underwent a mastectomy. She was then told to wait months for radiation, by which time the cancer had returned. Another nine cycles of chemotherapy followed, but the treatment schedule never lined up with the timing her illness demanded.
Doctors eventually told her she was “no longer eligible” for radiation because the disease had spread. “They simply failed to give me radiation because they said they didn’t have resources,” Moncho said.
The National Treasury allocated funds to reduce the backlog, but Moncho claims those resources were diverted elsewhere. “I know of people who were waiting for a month just to get an MRI scan, and they died waiting,” she added.
Medical experts have backed her concerns. Dr Angelique Coetzee of the South African Medical Association emphasised that radiation relies on precision and timing. Delays, she warned, can turn potentially curable cancers into untreatable ones, causing “irrefutable harm” to patients and families alike.
A Growing Political Scandal
The fallout is now political. The DA’s Gauteng shadow health MEC, Jack Bloom, compared the crisis to the Life Esidimeni tragedy, calling it potentially deadlier. He has urged Premier Panyaza Lesufi to remove Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, saying the department’s legal stalling tactics are costing lives.
For patients like Moncho, the fight is already lost. Her story lays bare the human cost behind court orders, political arguments, and bureaucratic delays. Each missed appointment and each broken promise is not just an administrative failure. It is another life slipping through the cracks of a struggling health system.
Also read: Foot and Mouth Disease Fuels Meat Price Surge in South Africa, Sparking Consumer Anxiety
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Source: The Citizen
Featured Image: OMNI Hospitals
