CHASKALSON P
conclusively proved that there are no funds available to provide patients such as the
applicant with the necessary treatment.”11 This finding was not disputed by the
appellant, but it was argued that the state could make additional funds available to the
renal clinic and that it was obliged to do so to enable the clinic to provide life saving
treatment to the appellant and others suffering from chronic renal failure.
[24]
At present the Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal does not have sufficient
funds to cover the cost of the services which are being provided to the public. In
1996–1997 it overspent its budget by R152 million, and in the current year it is
anticipated that the overspending will be R700 million rand unless a serious cutback is
made in the services which it provides. The renal unit at the Addington Hospital has to
serve the whole of KwaZulu-Natal and also takes patients from parts of the Eastern
Cape. There are many more patients suffering from chronic renal failure than there are
dialysis machines to treat such patients. This is a nation-wide problem and resources
are stretched in all renal clinics throughout the land. Guidelines have therefore been
established to assist the persons working in these clinics to make the agonising choices
which have to be made in deciding who should receive treatment, and who not. These
guidelines were applied in the present case.
11
Above n 2 at 17.
13