Despite having a good medical aid, Pinetown resident Hennie Botha, 52, is facing mounting debt of thousands of Rands because of the cost of his cancer treatment. He is not alone: the exorbitant cost of treatment for cancer in South Africa is way beyond the reach of most citizens.
The 2017 Cancer Medicines Report highlighted a year’s supply of cancer medicine, lenalidomide, was less than R32,000 in India, but cost R882,000 in South Africa. Added to this is a highly restrictive patenting system in South Africa, putting the brakes on competition which could lower prices.
Botha was diagnosed with Stage 4 carcinoid cancer last year, after suffering what he thought was anaphylactic shock. “I was cleaning the pool when I started not feeling well and collapsed. My blood pressure and my heart rate dropped. I didn’t think I would survive.”
He was tested for possible allergies and treated with antihistamine and cortisone. But that day was followed
Continue reading…