The opening of the unit was hailed as allowing the Eastern Cape to enter the stem cell age with the opening of the province\u2019s first specialist haematology treatment unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cStem cell treatment is the future of medicine. Pioneering work is being done on using stem cells to treat all types of disease,\u201d says Dr Neil Littleton, head of Department of Clinical Haematology at the Provincial Hospital.<\/p>\n
Littleton carried out the first haematological stem cell transplant in the Eastern Cape in May 2010 and stem cells are now separated out in the Eastern Cape by the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) in Port Elizabeth.<\/p>\n
With the opening of the province\u2019s first comprehensive haematology treatment unit, the number of transplants was expected to increase dramatically.<\/p>\n
As patients need to be kept in strict isolation during the transplant process in order to protect them from infection, the new unit has six isolation wards with DSTV and Internet access in order to help patients keep in touch with the outside world while isolated for a month or more.<\/p>\n
Other facilities in the R20-million facility on the seventh floor of the M Block in the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital include a general male ward, a general female ward, a day ward, a chemotherapy room, and doctors\u2019 offices.<\/p>\n
The building of the ward was financed by the Eastern Cape Health Department to the tune of R20 Million as the result of two years of lobbying and facilitation by the Igazi Foundation, which was founded as a direct result of the fact that the Eastern Cape province suffers from one of the highest incidences of blood cancer in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIgazi considers this to be phase one. The sixth floor of the building is available, and we are sourcing funding for a haemophilia clinic, bigger outpatients, and more offices for doctors,\u201d said Cole Cameron of the Igazi Foundation.<\/p>\n
The Eastern Cape Health department promised the haematology unit 22 nurses, but despite having advertised and recruited staff, it had yet to appoint them, Dr Littleton said. \u201cBhisho will not employ them because there is a moratorium (on hiring) and because there is no money. The unit is standing empty, and I refuse to move in until they employ the right staff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s Notes<\/strong>: Dr Littleton is a far greater man than I \u2013 in his shoes I would have left for private practice a long time ago. Littleton will now have to continue administering to his patients and watch them roll the dice and dodge infection on a daily basis whilst this latest round of \u201cegg in the face\u201d further denies life to people desperate for a \u2018better life for all\u2019.<\/p>\n At the 9 May event it was palpably obvious that Littleton\u2019s staff and patients alike had a great love for him \u2013 you could feel the quickening of pulses in the marquee when it came time for him to speak.<\/p>\n And then the words of support from East Cape Health Department head, Dr Siva Pillay made everyone believe that; \u201cYes, the Eastern Cape can rise above all the poofie kaka kaka wee wee thrown at it and serves it\u2019s people with dignity.\u201d Less than 12 days later the dream lies dashed and broken.<\/p>\n Farging lying bastards.<\/p>\n \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After extensive lobbying of local government the Aloe Igazi Haemotology unit was officially opened at a glamorous event on 9 May 2012. The unit, a dream of Dr Neil Littleton and the Igazi foundation has now received a body blow to their cause to serve the residents of Eastern Cape as has been revealed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1289,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-10744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mype","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Dr](\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/13260_Dr_Neil_Littleton-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nDr Neil Littleton, head of Department of Clinical Haematology at the Provincial Hospital<\/span>
\n![\"Dr](\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/13260_Dr_Siva_Pillay-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nDr Siva Pillay, head of the Eastern Cape Department of Health<\/span><\/p>\n