The Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal says to bring oncologists from Cuba and India to take up vacant posts in KwaZulu-Natal is indicative that the government in particular the Department of Health is not doing enough to train more oncologists.

"Although we welcome this initiative but we are concerned about the manner in which our government is dealing with the shortage of oncologists in this country. There is an urgent need to train more oncologists and health professionals in cancer care and provide the necessary infrastructure which is urgently needed to identify and treat patients.

The cancer crisis in KZN public health institutions has been on the brink of despair for years and it's no surprise that more and more oncologists are opting to work in private sector," said IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson on Health, Mrs Ncamisile Nkwanyana MPL.

"There is a need to invest more in training of medical staff specifically with a view to increasing the number of oncologists to reduce the number of foreign medical expatriates.

The department should encourage students to take up oncology by increasing scholarships and facilitating training programmes. We do not have a social support network to look after this increased burden. Sure, we need to train more oncologists but this also means that more resources are needed. This includes setting up more centres and bigger budgets for chemotherapy, immunotherapy and diagnostics," continued Mrs Nkwanyana.

"Furthermore, as the IFP we also want to know from the KZN MEC of Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo how much has been budgeted for this programme of hiring overseas oncologists and when this programme will be fully implemented?

We need these answers because the MEC always complain about insufficient funding in his department," concluded Mrs Nkwanyana.