Pretoria – Cancer patients undergoing treatment at the Dr. George Mukhari Academic Hospital (DGMAH), in Ga-Rankuwa, Gauteng, will now receive efficient and timely treatment.
This after the Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko on Wednesday, (13 December 2023), opened a Chemotherapy Laboratory, where the DGMAH will now be able to mix different types of chemotherapy medications in-house, allowing for a minimum of 25 to 30 patients to be treated per day.
MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko said that the newly opened Chemotherapy Laboratory was a significant step in the Gauteng Department of Health’s (GDoH) commitment to expanding resources and improving health care services in Gauteng.
“This in-house laboratory will address the inefficiencies that the hospital encountered in the past including the delay in delivery of medicines which resulted in inconveniences for patients and healthcare providers,” said MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko.
“Oncologists will have immediate access to medication to treat a wide variety of cancers including gynaecological cancers, breast cancer and blood cancers such as Leukaemia.”
The newly opened Chemotherapy Lab was part of the GDoH’s continuous efforts to transform its facilities while refurbishing and repurposing infrastructure to improve care and service delivery for patients in the province.
In addition, the MEC reopened the hospital’s Burns Unit which was repurposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reopened unit boasts 32 beds for both adult patients and paediatrics, a theatre room, and an Intensive Care Unit with three beds and will help to respond to the growing need for admissions of burns victims.
