Elderly chronic patients are allegedly being forced to use their already stretched SASSA pensions to buy medication from private pharmacies after repeatedly leaving Addington Hospital with prescription scripts instead of the lifesaving treatment they depend on.
Ward 26 Democratic Alliance PR councillor Sharmaine Sewshanker has raised the alarm over what she believes is a serious medication problem at the South Beach hospital after more than 30 Tafta residents allegedly complained that they had not been receiving their chronic medication.
Addington Hospital, situated on Erskine Terrace in South Beach, is a provincial district and regional hospital serving thousands of patients and offering, among other services, cardiac and medical care.
Sewshanker said she was first alerted to the problem three weeks ago when a Tafta resident told her that, for the previous three months, she had repeatedly left the hospital without her chronic medication. Instead, the patient allegedly received a prescription script and was expected to purchase the medication from a local pharmacy.
Concerned that the problem could be more widespread, Sewshanker met with other Tafta residents and said what she uncovered was alarming. “It was shocking to find that more than 30 patients were complaining about the same thing, especially those from the frail care facility,” she said.
Sewshanker said patients had also raised concerns about their medical files allegedly going missing every few months.“I was informed that some of their files were getting lost every two or three months. It raises serious questions about what is happening at Addington. How do patients’ files simply disappear?” she asked.
She said a further meeting with some of the worst-affected patients revealed that elderly people living with chronic illnesses were allegedly being forced to buy medication privately because they could not obtain it at the hospital. “These are pensioners who depend on government healthcare. Now they are being given scripts and told to go and buy medication off the shelf, which is extremely expensive and unaffordable,” she said.
“The question is: what is happening in terms of service provision from government? Is this a problem affecting Addington only, or are other hospitals facing the same situation?”
Sewshanker said patients had told her that nearby public health facilities were not experiencing the same difficulties. “From speaking to the patients, I found that there is a gateway clinic around the corner where they are getting their medication and there is no shortage. They also told me that King George and McCord do not have the same problem.
So, it appears that this could be a problem specific to Addington, because the patients are saying they are able to access medication at other state facilities,” she said.
The allegations come against the backdrop of previous concerns over access to medication at Addington Hospital. In February 2025, a patient reportedly struggled to obtain Exemestane, a hormone-blocking medication used in cancer treatment, from Addington Hospital. The patient claimed she had been told that there were problems involving the supplier. At the time, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health acknowledged ongoing budgetary constraints and procurement challenges while maintaining that it remained committed to ensuring the availability of essential chronic medication.
Addington has also faced medication-access problems in the past. In 2009, patients told then KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo that they had waited for more than a week to receive medication after a backlog developed at the hospital. Reports at the time indicated that hundreds of patients were waiting for medication.
For the elderly Tafta residents now raising the alarm, however, the issue is not about history but survival.
One resident, who asked not to be named, confirmed to The Springfield Weekly Gazette that patients were sometimes sent away without medication and, in some cases, without receiving basic health checks.
“A week ago, I went to the hospital and the nurse did not even check my blood pressure. I asked what the reason was because I take medication for high blood pressure, cholesterol and sinus problems. She just looked at my file and said, ‘You know what, we don’t have your medication. We’re going to give you a script and you need to go and buy it.’”
The woman said she left the hospital without medication or having her blood pressure checked.“I simply needed my pressure to be checked, but they had no medication, so I had to leave and walk out,” she said.
She said almost every elderly resident she knew depended on some form of chronic medication and could not afford to buy it privately. “Sometimes we only get one medication, which does not help when you are taking several. We live off our pensions and cannot afford it. I have had to ask family members to buy my medication,” she added.
Another Tafta resident, who is a heart patient, said his health depended on medication he could not afford to purchase every month. “I really suffer because I depend on my medication to live. When you have to buy it, it can cost more than R300 or R400. We cannot afford that. As residents of Tafta, we use our SASSA pensions to pay for our living costs. Once everything has been paid, we are left with very little. We simply cannot afford to buy our own medication every month or every second month.”
The pensioner said his health was deteriorating as he struggled to access the medication prescribed for his condition.
“I am getting sick, and I cannot take somebody else’s medication. Even if it is for the same condition, the dosage can be different. Some heart patients are prescribed different doses depending on the severity of their condition.We are facing a very big problem, and we are calling on government to intervene,” he said.
The claims that Tafta residents are being issued with prescription scripts and forced to purchase medication privately could not independently be verified by The Springfield Weekly Gazette and are attributed to the affected patients and Sewshanker.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health was approached for comment on whether Addington Hospital is currently experiencing medication stock shortages, whether chronic patients are being issued prescription scripts to purchase medication privately, and what steps are being taken to ensure that elderly patients continue receiving their treatment.
At the time of going to print, no response had been received.
