Cancer patients at a private East London oncology facility have started to feel the impact of loadshedding as their treatments are interrupted.
Tanya Vorster, a radiation patient at GVI Oncology, said it was not uncommon for loadshedding to occur during a treatment.
“What we are finding as patients is that we might have a treatment scheduled and in the middle of your treatment, the electricity goes out and then you miss out on the treatment for that day completely,” she said.
The Southernwood facility uses a Linac machine for radiation patients, which is faster and a more accurate instrument for radiation therapy.
Practice manager Lisa Rocher said: “We’ve got a generator, but the Linac pulls too much electricity to be connected to a generator.”
Rocher said she did not have the exact figure off-hand regarding how much electricity the machine would need during a blackout.
Vorster said the problem was not with the facility as they were trying “all in their power” to work around the loadshedding.
However, the differing times in which schedules are being implemented by Eskom interferes with patient appointments.
“If the electricity goes out half-way through a treatment, they have to schedule you the following day, even if it’s a weekend,” Vorster said.
She said if a patient missed their treatment completely, then they would have to be scheduled for another time which threw the entire appointment process off.
Rocher said they used the Eskom schedule available on the Internet and worked off that to set appointments.
However, she said she wished there would be prior notification if there was going to be a move from schedule two to schedule three in order to make alternative arrangements on time.
Rocher said some of their patients came from out of town and had nowhere to wait out the two hours loadshedding period.
“If they give us half an hour or an hour head start, e-mail us in the mornings about possible changes, or even send us smses to let us know,” she said, these solutions would assist.
“The only solution they have is to make the patients wait until the loadshedding is over and the staff to work overtime in order to avoid interrupting other appointments.
“I think it has an emotional impact as well on a patient whose treatment stops half way. The treatment itself is quite traumatic to the patient and when it’s interrupted, they ask themselves if the treatment is actually going to work or not,” Rocher said.
She said they saw between 26 to 35 patients back-to-back each day, at different points of their treatment with different types of cancer. The patients spend 15-30 minutes on the Linac.
Currently they are following a Facebook loadshedding group as a backup to the Eskom schedule. — vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
Blackouts stop cancer treatments
Tanya Vorster, a radiation patient at GVI Oncology, said it was not uncommon for loadshedding to occur during a treatment.
“What we are finding as patients is that we might have a treatment scheduled and in the middle of your treatment, the electricity goes out and then you miss out on the treatment for that day completely,” she said.
The Southernwood facility uses a Linac machine for radiation patients, which is faster and a more accurate instrument for radiation therapy.
Practice manager Lisa Rocher said: “We’ve got a generator, but the Linac pulls too much electricity to be connected to a generator.”
Rocher said she did not have the exact figure off-hand regarding how much electricity the machine would need during a blackout.
Vorster said the problem was not with the facility as they were trying “all in their power” to work around the loadshedding.
However, the differing times in which schedules are being implemented by Eskom interferes with patient appointments.
“If the electricity goes out half-way through a treatment, they have to schedule you the following day, even if it’s a weekend,” Vorster said.
She said if a patient missed their treatment completely, then they would have to be scheduled for another time which threw the entire appointment process off.
Rocher said they used the Eskom schedule available on the Internet and worked off that to set appointments.
However, she said she wished there would be prior notification if there was going to be a move from schedule two to schedule three in order to make alternative arrangements on time.
Rocher said some of their patients came from out of town and had nowhere to wait out the two hours loadshedding period.
“If they give us half an hour or an hour head start, e-mail us in the mornings about possible changes, or even send us smses to let us know,” she said, these solutions would assist.
“The only solution they have is to make the patients wait until the loadshedding is over and the staff to work overtime in order to avoid interrupting other appointments.
“I think it has an emotional impact as well on a patient whose treatment stops half way. The treatment itself is quite traumatic to the patient and when it’s interrupted, they ask themselves if the treatment is actually going to work or not,” Rocher said.
She said they saw between 26 to 35 patients back-to-back each day, at different points of their treatment with different types of cancer. The patients spend 15-30 minutes on the Linac.
Currently they are following a Facebook loadshedding group as a backup to the Eskom schedule. — vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
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