Gauteng Health to face court action for disclosing cancer patient records

Public interest law centre Section 27, the Cancer Alliance and Treatment Action Campaign head back to the Johannesburg High Court this week for an application to have sections of the Gauteng health department's response in a court action against them removed from the public record. 

The Cancer Alliance has taken the department to court to have it compelled to provide critical treatment to about 3,500 cancer patients who are on a waiting list.

Last year the National Treasury granted the department a budget of R784m to be paid out over three years to address the patient backlog. The first tranche of R250m was made in March last year, but only a very small amount has been spent so far.

The cash injection was ring-fenced and budgeted by the Gauteng treasury to be spent on outsourcing radiation and other critical treatment to private healthcare providers.

After being excluded from official communication from the department relating to plans to address the backlog list, the Cancer Alliance took the matter to court, seeking to have the department compelled to take action. 

In their response to the allegations that they have not taken action to address the cancer patient backlog, the health department said it believed the matter was not as urgent as claimed by Cancer Alliance, and that they had found a solution which was being implemented.

It said it had advertised tenders for three different categories of cancer treatment. Two had been withdrawn, and the third — for “planning services” — had been awarded to Siemens.  

Siemens was to be paid R17.48m to provide radiation planning services from May this year to April next year with a purchase order detailing a request for 2,000 plans ordered at R8,740 per plan having been signed off, the department said.

In their founding affidavit, Section 27 disclosed the stories of four cancer patients to illustrate how the department was continuing to fail patients and why action was urgently needed. 

In their response, the department referenced private information and health details, as well as the full medical treatment histories of patients. 

Now Section 27 has applied to the court for that information to be removed from the public record.

“The disclosure of confidential medical information without the consent of the individuals amounts to a serious breach of the National Health Act and a violation of the Protection of Private Information Act,” the alliance said.  

“This reckless conduct demonstrates their insensitivity to the issues raised and a slapdash approach on deeply personal, emotional and difficult health issues.”  

But the department argued back that they were not wrong on two grounds: that the patients had waived their rights to confidentiality when their medical information was disclosed in the founding affidavit and that by doing so they did not object to the disclosure of their records. 

In their striking out application, Section 27 is asking for the disclosed patient information to be removed from the record because it is “irrelevant and/or inadmissible in that it unlawfully discloses medical information of patients”. 

It is also asking that other content in the department’s papers be struck because it is “scandalous, vexatious and/or otherwise inadmissible”. 

The matter is to be heard on Thursday.