Dr Zainab Mohamed, Head: Clinical Unit Radiation Oncology at Groote Schuur Hospital, says the hospital saw a +20% reduction in new cancer patients at its unit in 2020. This trend has continued into 2021 and aligns with findings from overseas. The cause is multi-layered, stemming from people's fear of contracting COVID-19 to less access to primary and secondary-level care amidst the major waves.

She adds that some ramifications are already evident, "We are already seeing many cases where patients have waited a long time to seek medical help and present with advanced disease. Delay in cancer surgeries and investigations due to the backlog is also being seen. Modelling studies done in other countries predict a higher number of cancer deaths over the next few years. Without vaccinations, we will see successive 'waves' of new and more virulent variants affecting health services and leading to longer delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment."

The third wave has seen more patients present with severe COVID-19, which has led to Groote Schuur needing to ramp up its ICU beds faster than in the first and second waves. This has had big implications for cancer treatments, "Specialist clinic closures, along with reduced follow-up visits, and less access to special investigations and cancer surgeries have occurred due to staff redeployment to COVID-19 services - or testing positive or having to isolate.

"We try to catch up during periods of lower COVID-19 numbers, but we have limited capacity to do this, due to finite staff and hospital bed numbers, theatre lists and other resource constraints. Staff fatigue and burnout are also challenging. We may see the fallout from the pandemic for many years to come."

Attachments

Disclaimer

Sanlam Ltd. published this content on 27 September 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 27 September 2021 08:21:04 UTC.