For this, it is important to keep the blood pressure under control. Patients must make use of clinic and hospital facilities to make sure that their blood pressure is well-controlled. The fact that the North West Province did not have any cancer care services led to the establishment of the oncology unit at Klerksdorp Hospital. Though the province had the capacity to diagnose cancer, patients were sent to Gauteng Province for chemotherapy or radiation treatment. This meant transporting these sick patients to Johannesburg on a daily basis causing immense hardship for the patients.
Cancer treatment is an expensive and specialized mode of treatment.
These patients need a lot of emotional and social support and encouragement for the treatment to be successful. The unit was started as an outpatient service catering to chemotherapy patients. An inpatient ward will soon be opened. The unit is presently catering for around 200 outpatients and around 70 chemotherapy patients every month. The unit is also run in partnership with NGO's like Hospice for which we are very grateful.